71st Hunger Games- Aspen's Games
by AlainaMellark
Summary: Seventeen year-old Aspen grew-up with her parents until one day her father died and she was left with her mom to care for her. Once Aspen was reaped her life was ready to change. The story is rated T cause its the Hunger Games. Also the story should be better than the description obviously. :)
1. Reaping

Chapter 1- the reaping

I guess the morning I woke up for the day of the reaping, really changed my life. Being from district 7, lumber, was a disadvantage to the games. I mean to the Hunger Games.

District seven isn't a very-likable district, because it isn't a career district. We are an outer district that no one could really give a crap about. At least we aren't district 12. District 12 is the laughing stock of the districts. It's a very poor district that only two tributes ever became victors, and one is dead and the other is a raging alcoholic that spends his live drinking it away. If I ever became a tribute, I would not turn to alcohol as an escape. I rather turn my mentoring and hunting as escapes. My favorite weapon is an axe, because I could throw an axe ever since I learned to walk and talk.

I woke-up to the sound of my mother's unmistaken able moaning again. She sits in bed all day and groans and moans. My mother doesn't talk to me, feed me, care for me, or does anything besides lay there. We live in the poor part of the districts, because my father died a year ago. It was in an accident where a tree was cut down and landed on top of the truck where my father just happened to be in the driving seat.

I guess I say I have survived, but I care for my mother. I give her food that I get with hard and illegal work, but she has never repaid me because she is long gone in her world. If I ever won, I would use all my money to get her help.

I woke-up and took a bath knowing that I would have to look my best today. I used my mom's old fabric to make clothes, so I wouldn't go to school naked. I also bought fabrics and clothes from the market in the center of town with the game that I hunt outside of the districts. I say I get it from the forests of where they cut lumber so I wouldn't get into trouble or a bullet through my head, but everyone wants fresh meat now and then, even the peacekeepers.

I threw on a white dress. It was short sleeved and it came down an inch past my knees. It was made of cotton, but was comfortable. The top was ruffled down the middle and a nice belt that wrapped around the front and tied into a bow. I grabbed a pair of white flats. I looked down and saw my leather hunting jacket and hunting boots. I knew that I couldn't go hunting today and had to buy food from the town shops instead of the market, it was closed due to the reaping taking in the center of town.

We didn't have to be there until noon, so I ate some of the leftover bread and gave the rest to my mom with water I got from the well out back. I ate two apples to waste time and left the last five to use for the dinner when I got back.

I braided my long, dirty blonde hair into a fishtail down my back. My hair was long enough to reach my behind. I looked into the mirror and saw that my oval shaped face looked almost something pretty. The mole on the left side of my nose didn't look hideous as usual. My hazel eyes with flecks of green look somewhat pretty with my skin. My long eyelashes really brought out my bushy eyebrows and eyes.

Finally satisfied with myself, I forced my mom out of bed.

"Mom, get up! The reaping is starting soon and you need to be in the center of town," I said to her aggressively as I violently shook her out of her world.

"Ugh, humph, uh," was all that came out of her.

"Do you want the peacekeepers to come again and beat you and drag you out to the town again?" I asked. All of that made her get out of bed and dress quickly.

"You look pretty," she mumbled.

"Thanks," I replied. That was all we said to each other. My mother sat on her rocking chair and stared out the window until my aunt and cousins came. I was lazily picking at my dress to make it perfect. Eventually my aunt came.

My aunt and my mother looked exactly alike. Both long, auburn hair, pale skin, cat like eyes, and tall and lanky features. My two cousins followed. One is 17 and the other is 13. My seventeen year-old cousin has medium length blonde hair. She has the bangs that go straight across your forehead and straight hair that framed her heart-shaped face beautifully. She was pale with as many freckles you could have on a face. Her gray eyes looked at you with suspicion. Her name's Tara. My thirteen year-old cousin has dirty blonde hair cut in a crew cut. His cat like eyes looked at everyone with disgust. His pale skin had moles here and there, but no freckles. His name is Ash. Both are tall for their age. My uncle or their father died a couple of years ago from being murdered by a bear in the woods.

My aunt and my mother would stand in the back of the town where the adults would be. My cousins and I will be roped off in the area of our gender and age. Tara was shaking with nervousness. Me and her share the same look everyday. The look is how the capitol is horrible and crude for making the games happen. Ash just looked around every second and twitched.

"Aspen, are you ready to go?" my aunt asked me.

"Yep," I said.

/ / / / /

After being in my roped off area and all the kids in the town center, the reaping begins. Me and Tara hug to each other the whole time. Ash looks helpless up in his roped off section. I look around to see if I notice any kids from school. None. No one talks to me, because I'm the daughter of the woman who went mental. Tara and I sit alone at lunch and we like it that way.

"Welcome, welcome," says our new speaker for the reaping. He was tall with pumpkin orange hair, pumpkin orange outfit, and his face stretched back so much that it looks like is always smiling. His forehead was brought far back and his lips are very full.

"Welcome to the 71st hunger games, and may the odd be ever in your favour," he says and yadda yadda with the rest we all know about the video.

"Now lets pick the boys first," he says. He walks over to the big bowl that is filled with all of the boys in my district in the age range of 12-18. He moves his hand around in a circular motion. He then dives his hand down deep into the bowl and picks out one strip of paper.

"Spruce Treblestone," he says. I look over to my left and see everyone has made a space for him to get out. He gulps and sweeps back his blonde hair out of his face. You notice that he has gray eyes and freckles spotted around his nose and eyes. As he gets up on stage you see him shaking because of how nervous he is. You can tell he is built and cuts down trees for a part-time job, due to his shirt outlining his muscles. He is taller than the speaker, but shorter than 6 foot 10. I'm only 5 foot 7. As I was looking at Spruce I didn't even realize my name was called.

"Where's Aspen Gaeming?" asked the speaker, "Aspen Gaeming?"

I gulped down the saliva and walked up to the stage slowly. I kept a straight face the whole time.

"Now shake hands you two, go on," instructs the speaker. I gulp again and wipe my sweaty palms on my dress and face Spruce. I look into his eyes and see that he will be a big threat and a danger. He cocks a smile and shakes my hand. I give him a smile that means _I'm a threat and you better know it_. We then face the audience. I look for Tara, Ash, my aunt, and even my mother, but all I see are faces that know they lost someone valuable to their district.

"Here are the tributes of District 7," says the speaker. He takes our hands and bring them up over our head like that we are proud, but I just lock my face with my mother who has tears running down her face. I know at that moment I had to win these games.


	2. Mother

Chapter 2- The Train Ride

Sitting in the room of Justice Building, I was taken aback by the luxury of the room. There was velvet and soft fabric that I couldn't even name. It was so beautiful. I just kept running my over the soft bed cover until my mother came in. She was bawling and I knew she still cared about me. It hurt my heart so much that it made me start crying. I knew crying was a weakness, but Johanna Mason, who will be my mentor, made herself look like she was a weakling and then she went crazy on her tributes in the game. That wasn't going to work for me, because I couldn't keep the composure of the whole thing.

"Mom, don't cry," I cried softly.

"Honey, I know I haven't been there for you or taken care of you in a while, but I love you," she said hugging me. She petted the back of my head and kept saying everything was going to be fine.

"Mom, I need you to get back into your clothing washing job. That's the only thing that's going to keep you alive. I might die, but I want you to survive, because you are the only thing I care about," I said.

"You are coming home. You know how to survive and keep two people alive. You know how to hunt. And I've seen you run fast since the day you could walk. You go out and be deadly as you can be," she said with seriousness.

"I will, mom. I promise," I promised.

"Good, because you and your father have always been the things I have cared about. You are my greatest joy in life, and I can't lose you, too," she cried. We just sat there for a couple of moments crying into each other's shoulders.

"Here I want you to have this," she said. She gave me a box. I opened it up and saw a necklace. It was gold, pure gold! On the gold chain was a golden angel wing with a white crystal.

"It's beautiful!" I exclaimed, "Thank you so much."

"It was your great grandmother's," she explained, "I want it to be your token."

"I love it," I said. I barreled myself into her arms. We just sat there like that until the peacekeepers had to come in and ruin everything.

"Your five minutes are up, out now," said the peacekeeper. He sounded like a robot.

"Mom, I love you," I said.

"I love you, too," she said while being escorted out of the room. I put the necklace around my neck and kept pressing the angel wing.

My aunt and cousins came in. I hugged my aunt and told her that I love her. Me and Tara just hugged for what seemed like forever but only was one minute. Ash just threw himself into my arms. We just all hugged each other and kept telling me that I was coming home. I kept telling them that I would come home and that I love them.

The peacekeepers then came in and said they had to leave. I knew no one else was going to come, but I couldn't help thinking about who my other competitors were. I know Spruce was a major threat, but I couldn't help think that maybe he could be a great ally, but that might end badly. I need to accept that he hates me and is either going to kill me, win, die in the bloodbath, or die during the games. I just kept thinking that I have to win the games. I just have to.

I sat in the room for awhile before they came and collected me.

/ / / / /

We arrived at the train station. The whole time I looked out the window while Spruce looked at me as if to get every detail of me. Our mentors are already on the train, so I was left with Spruce at the moment. We walked through the door of the train into what looked like a dining room. There was a mahogany dining table with matching seats. There were placemats, fine glass cups, fine silverware, pretty assortment of flowers in the middle of the table, windows to see out, plush chairs, a television to watch anything, and even a bar. It was so beautiful and fancy that I just wanted to keep looking at everything.

"Are you going to come in?" Johanna asked aggressively. Me and Spruce both gulped at the same time. Johanna was a very tough mentor. She was aggressive and just mean. I guess she became so hard after the games. I never wanted to turn mean.

I nodded while Spruce said, "Yes."

We walked in slowly. I looked around at the elegance while Spruce tried to act like he wasn't scared of Johanna.

"Hey, look it's our new tributes of District 7. Dan-dahe," said Marcus. He is a victor who is about middle-aged. He doesn't have any children, but his wife is pregnant.

"You shouldn't scare them already. We were supposed to do that later when we were going to tell them that they won't survive the bloodbath," Johanna snickered. Marcus joined in with her. I was absolutely revolted by that, and I could tell Spruce didn't like that either.

"Oh shut up. Last time I checked I'm not a weakling. I'm going to win this and slice every one of those careers throats," I said. Johanna and Marcus just rolled their heads back laughing.

"Sweetie, at least you have confidence in yourself," Marcus said. Johanna rolled as he said this. Me and Spruce looked at each other helplessly. Then we both looked away. I wasn't supposed to become friends with him. He will just backstab me.

"At least she has some fight for such a _weakling_," Johanna said mimicking my tone. Marcus and her hooted with laughter. I turned around on my heel and started walking to my room.

"You shouldn't back down from a fight," said Marcus. I ignored them and walked to my room. I went in and sat down on the bed. The room was even more extravagant then the dining room. The bed fabric was made from silk and Egyptian cotton. The wood was obviously mahogany. I walked into the bathroom and saw the bathroom. Everything was stainless steel and marble. The tiles in the shower changed in color from the heat. I was so taken aback. I walked back into my room. I looked out the window and saw the woods I hunt in. _Only if they knew I hunted and was deadly with any type of weapon in my hand._ It made me soar with anger. I waited until it was time to eat to go back into the dining room, because I didn't want to embarrass myself even more.

I walked in and was ready for the blow of some hurtful comment. It really never came until I sat down.

"Joy. I'm glad the throat cutter could join us," Johanna said. I just gave her the evil eye while I ate my dinner. It consisted of some type of shellfish. Maybe a crab, but it was in a cake form. There was a sweet sauce drizzled over it and soaked in it. Apple sauce, blueberry muffins, rolls after rolls, sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, cheeses, jam, everything you could possibly think of were sides. It was a five course dinner. I had to take it slow. Finally, dessert came. There were desserts after desserts. I just took a roll and dipped it into a hot chocolate. It looked like Spruce did the same.

"Copier," I said at him. He looked up and smiled.

"Sorry I didn't know I could have the same thing," he said like he was so innocent. I just scowled at him which made him smile even more.

"This is a good idea," said Johanna. Marcus nodded with her in agreement. Me and Spruce looked at each other confused.

"What is a good idea?" I asked.

"You and him should be allies, stupid. It could work. It would definitely blow up in the careers faces," explained Johanna.

"It could really give you guys an edge in the games," Marcus explained.

"Are you joking? Just an hour ago you told us that we were going to die in the first five minutes of the games!" Spruce said.

"Yes, but since throat cutter over here says she wants to win and everybody wants to win we need a plan/idea to start off with if you want to win," she explained. Spruce and I must of finally realized this.

"You guys have any secret talents?" Marcus asked.

Before I even spoke Spruce said, "I'm amazing with an axe, but I'm good with knives."

"I'm good with a knife and spear, but I can do deadly with a bow or axe," I said. Johanna and Marcus looked please with our answers, because they just smiled.

"Well at least we have a good pair this year," said Johanna. I even believed it, too.


	3. Train Ride

Chapter 3- The Arrival

After the talk and dinner I walked back to my room only to find Spruce in my room.

"We need to talk," he said.

"Okay?" I said suspiciously.

"I know we got off on the wrong foot. I thought we weren't going to be allies and I didn't want to get attached to you. Every pair of tributes in their district becomes friends at some point, and I guess I just didn't want to be friends with someone that I might have to kill. It would be very hard, and I knew you were a threat right off the bat, but I don't think the careers are going to know that first thing," he said.

"They'll know you're a threat. I'm pretty sure that they look at all the tributes and think about how they can kill them," I said while a shiver ran up my spine.

"Probably. I guess we should see who our competition is anyways," he said.

"That's probably a good idea, and we should probably discuss who are threats, who aren't, and who we could ally with. I mean it's just an option allying with someone. The careers don't need to be the only ones with an alliance," I explained.

"I totally agree with you, but we just have to watch our backs, _friend_," he said with a smile.

"Okay, _friend_," I laughed. I went over and sat down next to him on my bed. I turned on the television and watched the reapings.

The tributes from District 1 looked menacingly as always. The girl was tall with pale skin. Her caramel blonde hair curled without frizz to her mid-back. Her green eyes looked out to the crowd with a grimace on her face. The boy wasn't very different. He had the same hair, but his hair was completely blonde with curls. He was muscular, but not as big as Spruce. He didn't have a grimace on his face. He had a smirk. He was obviously very arrogant.

The District 2 tributes looked at the crowd with arrogance that annoyed me. The boy had humungous muscles. His dirty blonde hair was swept back from his face to show his gray eyes. The girl was short, but muscular. Probably from their academy. She looked like she was psychotic. Her gray eyes looked like there was nothing more important than winning.

The District 3 kids didn't look scary like the last four kids, but I couldn't count them out. I remember one year their one victor killed his tributes with a trap that had to do with electricity. The tributes were both brunette. The girl had hair that went to her shoulders. They were both tall, but they were lanky and malnourished.

The District 4 tributes stuck out to me, mostly because they were careers and the boy was just twelve. Whoever was supposed to volunteer for him, didn't. He was so small. His curly brunette hair covered his green eyes. Something about him just told me to stay away. The girl was probably sixteen. Her deep sea green eyes looked out with sorrow to the audience. She obviously wasn't ready for this. Her brunette hair was straight and came halfway to her mid-back. Her petite figure was different compared to what usually was picked for District 4.

District 5 and 6 tributes didn't stick out. All of them looked malnourished, but the boy from 5 had big muscles but not big enough to carry a 100 pound sack of flour. The girls were average height as well as the guys. They all had brunette hair, but looked dirty.

Then there was us. Looking at our reaping, I looked stupid. District 8 tributes really didn't stick out. They had red and auburn hair that was wavy. They were small and not very much a threat. The District 9 tributes stuck out. The boy and the girl were muscular, but the girl didn't seem much as a threat. The boy was. He had blonde hair and huge muscles like Spruce, probably from being out in the fields getting the grain everyday. The girl was average height. The boy was very tall, probably close to 6 foot 8.

The District 10 boy tribute really wasn't a threat, but the girl was. Her long brunette hair came down to her waist. She was slim, but somewhat muscular. She obviously was fed better than the rest of the tributes excluding the careers. Her blue eyes swirled like there was a storm brewing. She looked sneaky, and sneaky wasn't good. The boy was tall and malnourished. Obviously he had brunette hair and blue eyes. Both had tan skin from handling the livestock all the time.

The District 11 tributes didn't stick out. They both were muscular, but not as muscular as they should be. They had cocoa skin, but the boy was much darker. They looked very underfed. Their hazel eyes showed that they didn't want to be there at all.

The District 12 tributes shocked me. The boy was 14 and the girl was just 12. The boy had brunette hair and gray eyes, probably from the poorer side of their district due to him looking so scrawny. The girl was obviously better fed. She had blonde straight hair and blue eyes. She looked better fed, but was still very skinny.

"The boy from 9, the girl from 10, and the careers look like major threats, but besides the boy from 4," he said after taking it all in.

"I agree and disagree. The boy from 4 can't be counted out," I reply.

"Why?" he asked.

"Something in my guts just says that. I mean for one, no one volunteered for him. All the careers volunteer unless their name was reaped," I explained.

"Oh, I can see your point, but it's just that he's so young and 12 year olds never win or survive very long," he argued back.

"I see your point, but we have to wait and see at training. That might be the only time we can really decide whether or not he is a threat or not," I replied.

"I guess so, but anyways it's getting late. See you tomorrow, _friend_," he said with a wink. I just laughed. After he left, I decided to experiment the shower. There was so many concoctions of shower gels, conditioners, and shampoos that I didn't know what to choose. I chose a peppermint shampoo with an extreme moisturizing conditioner with a tropical smelling shower gel. I started to experiment with other shower gels, but my nose started to run with all the smells. I rinsed off and stuck my head into a box that brushed out my hair and made it shine. I fishtailed my hair back before going to bed. I was ready to pass out by the time I put on a pair of soft pants and a soft t-shirt.

/ / / / /

I woke up to the sun coming in through my windows. My dress was still folded on the floor, so I changed back into it. Before changing, I looked in the mirror. I was wearing underclothes, but you could see my hips bones, some of my ribs, and collarbones. I needed to put on some weight. I took out my fishtailed hair and ran my hand through my beach wavy hair.

I walked to the dining room. Johanna and Marcus were sitting at the table already. As I sat down, Spruce walked in and sat down. I loaded eggs, pancakes, bacon, toast with strawberry jam, oatmeal, and biscuits. I had milk and hot chocolate.

"You guys see any of the tributes?" Marcus asked.

"Yes, me and Aspen figured out who are threats, but we really didn't figure out we could or should ally with," Spruce told them. Johanna seemed intent on listening and so was Marcus.

"We think the careers are threats, but we don't know about the boy form 4 yet. The girl from 10 and the boy from 9 stuck out. The girl from 9 is a threat and should not be one of our allies, because she looks sly and sneaky and that isn't good," I explained.

"I agree with you guys, but you shouldn't ally with anyone besides you two," Johanna said. Marcus nodded his head in agreement.

"I think the careers shouldn't be the only ones who have an alliance," I explained, "It wouldn't hurt to try to make an alliance against the careers."

Johanna and Marcus were listening while Spruce added, "I mean we wouldn't have as big as an alliance as theirs, but something small enough to show that we shouldn't be counted out."

"I see what you guys are saying, but l think it's best if we don't jump into this plan. I think you two should just stick to being allies and then see if you guys want to start an alliance with other tributes," Marcus explained. I couldn't believe this! This plan was smart and it was rare that this ever happened!

"We need to talk this through, because they might betray you," Johanna said, "Since we have a good pair for once, we don't want to waste that."

"Okay, I'm good with that," Spruce said. I really wanted my plan to start, but I guess it wasn't going to. I was already done with my food, so I just walked to the last car of the train. The last car had windows on the walls and ceilings. I sat in a velvet chair and just stared out.

I couldn't believe it. They knew my plan was good. Why wouldn't they just go with it? From what they did yesterday I the anger inside me swelled. These alliances never happened all the time. Most of the time, this plan worked and helped one of the non-career districts win the games. Everything from the reaping to last night to today just came out. I kept crying until I saw a humungous city. The marble and colorful buildings, the extravagant and fancy look to the city, and the amazing wow factor defined the city as the Capitol. I ran over to the closest window and stuck my face up to it. I wiped the tears from my face and did my best to hide the redness in my eyes. As we got nearer to the train station you can see the Capitol citizens know a tribute train was arriving. I waved and smiled at people. Hopefully one of them could be my sponsor. Eventually we arrived. Right before we went into the remake center, Johanna pulled me aside.

"Marcus is telling Spruce the same thing. After you left and had your hissy fit and Spruce went looking for you, we needed to tell you to not resist your stylist. Do everything he says. Everything!" she whispered and with that she aggressively pushed me into the doors were I would be transformed into something for the parade. The only thing that stuck in my mind was to not resist and that Spruce tried looking for me. Maybe this alliance would work.


	4. Parade

Chapter 4- The Parade

Since Spruce was looking for me, it left my mind go into craziness. I couldn't stop thinking about what it meant. Did he mean to look for me to cheer me up or was it to tell me that I'm stupid and we should listen to our mentors. I was so mad that Johanna told me that. She probably did it on purpose. She knew my mind would go on overload. Ugh! I hated this.

I was brought back into reality when one of the stylists from my prep team named Venuce waxed off the hairs on my leg. My leg spazzed and flew up in the air. "Ow, that one really hurt," I told them.

"It's not supposed to feel good," Reneet giggled. The others chimed in with her. She was my other stylist.

"It may hurt, but you will look flawless afterwards," Venuce reassured me.

"You will look absolutely gorgeous," said Penny. She was my other stylist. Surprisingly she had a normal name. I smiled back at them. They went off to into their bubble talking about the new fashion in the Capitol. I ignored them and thought about home.

Oh how I missed District 7. I hate it here. I miss my family, especially my mom. I miss going into the woods and let the wind pull back my hair. I miss the lake that I always got water from and the fish. I am just so homesick.

I didn't realize that they were adding color to my hair. They took an inch off of it, too. My hair! Oh, I hated it here. I was about ready to run and get out of the room, when I remembered that Johanna told me not to resist. I would not want to explain to Johanna that I ran out of the room. She would probably kill me. Oh wait, she would make sure I would die in the arena instead.

I sat in my seat fidgeting while they changed my nails into almond shaped. When they took out the foil out of my hair, I now knew why they were adding color. They added caramel highlights to my hair. My hair looked so cool. The caramel, blonde, and brunette came together beautifully. I looked as if my hair was the bark of a tree that had been used to strip off dead skin and polish antlers from a deer. My hair was shiny and was cut in layers. It came down to the very top of my butt.

"I love it!" I exclaimed.

"Of course you would. Hair is my specialty, sweetie," Venuce responded. The other stylists nodded and agreed. I smiled at them.

"Oh, Basil is going to love you. We have to make you flawless before showing you to her," Reneet explained.

"Why isn't she here?" I asked.

"She is working on the finishing touches for your costume or should I say, dress," Penny giggled.

"Oh," I said. They went on to working on my make-up. They kept my make-up natural except for brown and white swiggles and swirls on my face and arms. I knew I was going to be a tree as soon as I noticed the make-up looked like branches. The stylists always did this due to our district symbolizing trees.

Great, I'm going to be a tree. I don't think my stylist is so stupid with the hair and plain white nails, but a tree! Come on! I have seen worse. Especially last year. When the tributes of District 12 were covered with coal dust and had to wear coal miner helmets. That was disgusting, but hilarious. I hope I'm not supposed to be naked in this costume. I shuddered at the idea of it. I'm fine with skin exposure, but not being completely naked.

When they got done with everything I finally met my stylist. She came in with a smile.

"I got done with the costume, but I need her in front of the mirrors to check for any flaws," she said.

I stepped onto a pedestal that was surrounded by mirrors. I had a robe on, but Basil told me to take it off. I flushed with red when I took off my robe. My first reaction was to cover my lady parts, but Johanna told me not to resist. Basil just looked at me up and down and then told me to put on my robe.

"You guys can leave. You did a perfect job, thank you," she said to Venuce, Reneet, and Penny.

"How about you come and sit down over here. We can have lunch," she said.

"Okay, sounds good," I responded shyly. I tried to sound confident, but with me being naked in front of people made me shy. We sat down on a plush love seat and Basil pressed a button with her dark red talon like nails. Automatically lunch came up through a hole in the middle of the coffee table. Our lunch consisted of a cold soup called a bisque, a sandwich that had a seasoned chicken with pickles and cheese and a sweet sauce, and rolls of bread. It tasted like strawberries. I finished the bisque before Basil did. When we were eating I looked more closely at Basil. She had red tattoos that framed her face. They look like grape vines, but instead of grapes there were roses and different types of flowers. Her red, flaming hair was sleeked back into a mid-high pony. She was wearing a simple white peplum shirt with a long white skirt that flowed back into a train. Her white heels made her two inches taller than me. She had red eyeliner that winged off to the side closest to her ears. It made her hazel eyes pop. Her freckles were just clumped under her eyes, but her pale skin was slightly darker than her outfit.

"So, am I going to be made into a tree?" I asked trying to get a conversation to go.

"Yes, and your district partner is going to match you," she responded.

"Am I going to be made into a certain type of tree?" I asked.

"Yes, a Dogwood tree," she explained, "You and Spruce are going to start out with a bang, but hopefully you will keep making bangs throughout the games."

"I will," I promised.

"Do you have any type of strategy for the games?" asked Basil.

"Yes and no," I said.

"Oh, tell me more," Basil said obviously interested.

"Well me and Spruce are going to be allies, but we don't know if we want to ally with other districts or not," I explained.

"Oh that's a good strategy. Your mentors should listen to you, but Johanna isn't the one to be so open to agreeing on things unless it's her way," Basil said looking around to make sure Johanna wasn't around.

"Thanks. Her and Marcus don't seem so happy about the plan," I say.

"Well they should be and they should be happy about having a good tribute for such a district that doesn't always win," she said, "No offense."

"None taken. We aren't the most favorable district, but I have to say that District 12 and 11 are worse than us," I say.

"That's totally true," Basil said with a smile. After lunch, we got me into my costume. I was made to close my eyes. The fabric of the costume was silky and went over my body with perfection. I formed my body. The costume was heavy, but good thing I was wearing straps.

"Open," ordered Basil. I gasped at the beauty of the costume. They had my hair braided around my head into a sort of headband. White flowers were braided into my hair. The costume was beautiful. It was a simple white dress with layers of brown, tan, gray, and white. It had two thick straps that held up the dress. It looked as if flowers were overtaking the branches. I wore white flower earrings and white heels. The designs on my arms looked like branches coming out of the thick shrub. My face was framed with the design. The design came out of the corners of my eyes. I looked like a beautiful Dogwood tree that was untouched.

"It's gorgeous, thank you," I said.

"You're welcome. Now go out of this room and onto the elevators to the left and press 1. Then you will see the carriages. You go there," Basil explained.

"Okay," I said and gave thanks one more time. I knew that I was going to be seen by the crowd in a good way. Hopefully Spruce, too. I did as Basil directed and went to the elevators. On my way I noticed I was in a hall with other doors. They probably lead to tributes remake rooms. As I got on the elevator a tribute walked out of their room.

"Hold the elevator," said a manly voice. I held it because the voice was very aggressive. I looked up and saw the boy from 2. I gulped as he came onto the elevator. He looked at me confused. He was wearing a toga that had gold on the seams and bottom of the toga. He wore sandals with a headband that had wings on the side. It looked as if the concept wasn't completely finished. Surprisingly, they had a bad costume. Maybe the odds were in my favor this year.

He kept staring at me. "What?" I asked and regretted it as soon as it came out of my mouth.

"Well it seems that you have a good costume since your district and District 12 are the laughing stocks," he said taken aback. I knew he was trying to psyche me out, but I stood my ground.

"Really, you look like a laughing stock. Your stylist didn't even complete your costume," I said angrily.

"There is more to it than you know, sweet cheeks," he said.

"My name is Aspen, not sweet cheeks," I said fuming.

"Well my name is Cinn, and you're nothing to me, sweet cheeks," Cinn said. I ignored him to not keep him going.

"What aren't you going to fight me? Oh wait, you couldn't win because I would snap you in half," he responded smugly. As soon as we got to floor one, I walked over to my chariot where Spruce was petting our horses. The horses were white with glossy coats. Spruce had a white unitard on with the layers of brown, tan, crème, gray, and white. He had the same design on his arms and face, too. He didn't have any flowers braided into his hair. He looked very handsome especially with the unitard outlining his muscle tone. Spruce looked up as I stormed over.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Let's just say that the District 2 tributes are going to hate us," I say.

"Why?" he asked.

"I got into an 'argument' with Cinn," I said.

"Who's Cinn?" he asked.

"District 2 boy volunteer," I said.

"Oh, why did you guys get into an 'argument'?" he asked.

"He kept staring at me on the elevator, so I asked him what's his deal and he responded rudely. So we got into an argument over each other's costumes," I explained.

"Well his costume sucks," he reassured me, "Anyways you look amazing."

"You look dashing," I said while I twirled. A bell rung and everyone got onto their chariots.

"Thank you. Let's hope we get noticed in the good kind of way," Spruce said while we mounted our chariots. The District 1 tributes were the first to go through the stable doors and out into the roaring crowd. The noise was so loud, I could barely hear. Then the District 2 tributes went out. As soon as they went out their costumes sparkled like the sun. Bronze and gold were shining everywhere. I was taken aback. They looked like the glowing sun.

"Well, his costume doesn't suck," Cinn said.

"That is probably what he meant when he said that there was more to the costume," I said stupidly.

"Hey don't worry ours are better," he reassured me. I smiled at him. The rest of the chariots went then there was ours while we talked.

"Thanks," I said. I smiled at him. Our chariot pulled forward and everyone in the crowd stopped looking at everyone and shouted at us. The roar was even more deafening when they were screaming mine and Spruce's name. I put on my best smile. I waved at people. I couldn't keep balance much so I held onto Spruce for stability. He looked over and smiled at me. We clinged to each other for support. I smiled, blew kisses, catched white roses, and waved. Everyone loved me and Spruce. Eventually we raised our held hands over our heads. Everyone loved that by screaming and yelling louder. Spruce whoo-hooed the whole time. When we got to the square, I ignored President Snow and just kept thinking I could win these games. As we were in the square I could feel the deathly glares of the careers. Especially the District 2 tributes. I winked at Cinn and he winked back. The girl from 2 looked at me like she was going to eat me. I gave her a dashing smile. She growled at me.

"Don't aggravate them. The girl looks like she wants to rip you into pieces and then stew you up and eat you," said Spruce.

"She must not like the capitol food," I joked. We both laughed. The other tributes looked at us confused. We just kept on laughing. When we pulled into the training center, Johanna, Marcus, Basil, and Spruce's stylist greeted us.

"You guys looked amazing out there! Don't you agree Welding?" Basil exclaimed.

"Yes, you guys were just fantastic!" Welding agreed. Welding was Spruce's stylist and he had the same look as Basil, except his tattoos were lime green and his hair was jet black and a curly afro. His pale skin made him look like a vampire. He had yellow eyes that looked menacing. He had talon-like nails, but they weren't colored. He was wearing a black v-neck shirt with black trousers. He was like Basil's evil twin, but he was very friendly.

"Even I have to agree that you guys looked good," added Johanna while she slapped me and Spruce's back, "How about we go upstairs to our floor to celebrate."

I took the hint that all the tributes were glaring at us. "You guys looked great," said a tipsy Marcus.

We walked to the elevators and went to floor 7. As soon as we stepped onto our floor, I was in heaven.


	5. Day 1

**Okay this chapter is a little blood and gory only at one part. I'm just warning you, but it's only in Aspen's dream, so one time. Enjoy.:)**

* * *

Chapter 5-First Day of Training

All I could think of was the plush couches, glass dining table, beautiful flower arrangements; everything in the apartment was luxurious! I felt the fabric of each couch and was comforted by how soft and inviting it was. Before dinner, I went and showered. The bathroom was the same as the one on the train and so was the bedroom except for the glass window that overlooked the city. I could see the square where we just had the parade at. I heard the roar of the crowds still in my ears- _Aspen! Aspen! Aspen, Spruce! Spruce! Spruce! _– the crowd was still chanting our names down in the square. I smiled.

I couldn't believe I was a favorite! I mean I didn't volunteer nor was I a career. With the thought of the career, my emotion changed to disgust. Cinn really made me mad in the elevator. _What did he mean by sweet cheeks?_ He was just absolutely revolting. He must treat women like they are scum, excluding his district partner. She creeps me out. She looks like a psychopath. She'll probably be like Titus last year, and cut out the hearts of the tributes he kills. She probably will be like that one victor from a couple of years ago who ate the tributes he killed.

Just thinking of the thought made me nauseated. Maybe a shower would help. Anyways my nerves were still making my palms sweat. I didn't realize how tense up I was until I got into the shower. I washed off all my makeup and let the hot water hit my back. It felt really good. It made me calm down a bit.

After the shower I went into the dining room or I guess the living room. As we ate roasted chicken drizzled a sweet brownish sauce, the parade played back on a television. It wasn't like the ones at my house with the antennas or never gotten reception. This one was thin and humungous. It took up half of the wall. We watched the rerun of the parade and noticed that when we were cracking up that all the careers were whispering to their district partner and giving us nasty looks. I looked over at Spruce who was shoveling the chicken down his throat and said with sarcasm, "I think we have some new friends."

Spruce hooted with laughter while Johanna scowled at us. We laughed even harder. "I bet tomorrow they will give us hugs and ask us to join their alliance like we're their friends," he said sarcastically.

"But we are," I added with a wink. We just sat there busting a gut when Johanna said, "This isn't funny. You guys are going to be prime targets and oh boy, would they like to kill you guys slowly and painfully. So how about you guys quit joking around about them and pay attention. Tomorrow I need you guys to learn everything about your fellow tributes. Learn what weapons they are good at, weaknesses, stuff that makes them strong, and above all do not show any of your weaknesses, your strong suits, and especially what weapons you are deadly with. The careers will be easy, because they like to show off. Their weaknesses might be hard to find, but their strong suits will be right in front of your faces. Now finish eating and get some rest, because tomorrow you will be the meat that everyone of those animals/ tributes will want a piece at."

With that we shut up and shoveled the food down our throats. When dessert came, Johanna got up from the table and went to her room. She walked like she had a headache that was bothering her and I knew it wasn't a headache. It was two tributes, who might have a chance at surviving, acting stupidly.

"She's right you know," Spruce said.

"I know, but I get scared when she yells at us," I explained with a shake in my voice. I shivered when I kept picturing the look of doom coming out of her eyes.

"I know. She scarier than the District 2 girl volunteer," he said.

"Exactly, anyways we should probably go to bed," I said hinting that the conversation is closed.

"Okay well good night," he said while he patted my shoulder after he walked past me to his room. I walked to my room and laid in my bed. I was pretty restless, because I kept thinking of Johanna's look. _Was it fear for us or something else?_ I could not let my brain shut down. I got up and paced and kept thinking she is disappointed of me. Disappointment from her really hurts me for some reason. It feels like she stabbed me in the heart. I know she is right, but I just feel guilty that I caused something that upset her. Finally, I got into bed and fell asleep.

* * *

I dreamt about Cinn coming after me with a spear. He got me, but he told his district partner to finish me off. She came with her crazed look and licked her lips when she saw me. She cut across my skin with different knives that looked sharp and menacing. The whole time I screamed help and no one came. She then cut out my heart and tore off pieces of flesh. She started eating my flesh. Then Johanna came out of nowhere and threw axes at them and said to me, "You should of listen to me when I said they were dangerous,"

With that she disappeared and let me there to die. I woke up gasping for air. Next thing I know tears are coming down my face in gushes. I just curled up into a ball and fell asleep like that.

I woke-up to the sun coming in through my window it was about 7 a.m. I felt groggy and jumped into the shower and let the water hit my back. I walked into my room after showering and put on the clothes that were laid on my bed. It was a simple shirt and pants that formed my body. It was black and the shoulders were a light gray with and orange. On my back was just a gray number seven. I put on a pair of boots that were laid next to the clothes. They were black.

I laced up my boots and French braided my hair down my back. I then walked into the living room. Breakfast was already on the table, but no one in sight. I sat down and loaded my plate with bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, and waffles. I wasn't hungry, because the nerves were at it again. Every time I took a bite, I felt nauseated. With that I just sipped on my orange juice. I realized it was 7:45 and training was supposed to start at 8 so I walked to Spruce's room.

When I knocked he came to my door. He was matching me, but he looked more ready than me.

"I already ate," I said.

"Me, too. You woke-up late. I was going to wake you, but I heard the shower on and went back to my room. Johanna is a no show and well Marcus is hungover," he explained.

"How do you know that he is hungover?" I asked.

"Well he was drunk last night after the parade, but when we went to the apartment, him and Haymitch had a couple of drinks together," he explained.

"Whose-," I said.

"Haymitch is District 12's mentor. The drunk," he interrupted.

"Oh," I said, "We should probably head down to the training center."

"Yes, you're right lets go," he said.

"Okay," we walked to the elevator and pressed the button that said TC. As we were going down, I looked at Spruce and said, "We are going to do as Johanna asked, but with a twist. Look out for the boy from 4 and look for possible allies."

"Okay, but we aren't supposed to do your-," he started but I cut him off.

"Remember Johanna and Marcus said that they will think about it. We should still take the plan into action, but don't go out and ask people to become allies. Learn about them first and we will discuss about them and then tell Johanna and Marcus," I explained.

"Okay, but most importantly, we are allies and we have to agree on everything," he said.

"I promise," I said. We arrived at the waiting room for the training center. Some of the tributes had their mentor escort them, probably to tell them to do something. I noticed the glares and cold shoulders from the careers, but that didn't stop me from my plan. I noticed that the girl from twelve had redness in her eyes. She probably cried herself to sleep.

"Talk to tributes, but don't make it obvious that we are trying to create an alliance," I muttered to Spruce. He nodded his head at me. We waited until we got out into the center. Before we could get started a spokesperson came over to talk to us.

"Hello, my name is Atala. I'm here you to tell you the rules and survival skills while you stay here. First, no fighting. You will have enough time for that in the arena. Most of you guys will go for the weapons, but most of you will die of natural causes. They range from diseases, dehydration, poison and starvation. Some of you will die from bleeding out, fights, and in the bloodbath, but don't let that get you down. Survival skills are just as lethal as weapons," said Atala, the spokesperson. As she said that survival skills were just as lethal as weapons, some of the careers rolled their eyes. Hopefully none of them learn any survival skills and die. One year, their food source got flooded out. An outer district one that year. That could be a good thing to keep in mind. No food source equals starvation and starvation equals deaths of enemies and that means I could win.

"You guys may commence the training center, and we will break for lunch at 12," she said. At first, I didn't know where to go. I knew to stay away from the axe and bow area, so I headed over to knives. I was rusty, but I got better as I practiced. After throwing at the human dummies five times, I went over to the spear station. I knew Spruce sucked at spear and trident throwing. He told me that on the elevator trip ride down. I threw with both arms and hit the human dummies in the heart. Finally accomplished with myself, I walked back from the station only to find myself fall into someone. It was Cinn and the boy from 1.

"Whoa, _sweet cheeks_, you need to watch your footing or when we are chasing you and you trip you'll be dead," said Cinn. The boy from 1 laughed with Cinn.

"Oh, so I'm going to survive the bloodbath and have you chase me around like a poor puppy looking for its owner?" I asked and walked away. Both of their mouths dropped. I just smiled at them.

"You know having your mouths open all the time creates drool. And I think you guys each have some right here," I told them scratching at the corner of the right side of my mouth. They both shut their mouths and gave me glares. I walked over to the plant station. I was matching what plants were edible and the ones that weren't on a touch screen when I felt someone behind.

"You showed them up. How?" asked the nervous boy from 9.

"Well, I guess it takes confidence and Cinn was getting on my last nerve. So I made him look stupid. That's going to suck for me later," I said giving him a nice smile. He laughed.

"You're funny, so is your district partner. He was laughing up a storm with the kids from 12," he said. The words kids made me go weak in the stomach.

"I don't know how someone is going to kill them," I said softly.

"I know. I can't and won't," he said drooping his head a bit.

"Same. Oh and I'm Aspen by the way," I say giving him my hand. He shakes it.

"I'm Rye," he said.

"Well, nice to meet you before Cinn kills me," I say jokingly. He laughs, but he is obviously uncomfortable with the killing thing.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I was trying to joke about the games. I guess that isn't working," I say.

"No it's just that Cinn scares me. I mean even now. He's giving me a look to back off of you. It's like he has claimed you for something," he explained. I looked over and saw Cinn staring at me and taking everything in about me and Rye. It's like he was jealous.

"He's obviously jealous about something," I say. He catches me looking and looks away. He flushes with red in his cheeks. I snicker and look at Rye.

"I know. I guess he found out that he got caught," Rye said snickering. Just then Rye's fellow district partner came over. When she spoke, she was really soft and quiet.

"Hi, I see you guys are talking and well since I have aced everything in traps, snares, agility, the plants, knot tying, and fire starting, I'm bored," she says. This makes me stop my plant quiz and look up.

"What?" I say a little too loudly. It makes everyone jump. Spruce starts to walk over when he hears me shout.

"I was just saying how I aced everything," she said. My mouth must have been open, because Cinn walked by to go over to the strength station.

"You know having your mouths open all the time creates drool," Cinn says as he walks by. I scowl at him. He gives me a sly smile and a wink. _He is getting on my last nerve. Oh, I can't wait to kill him in the arena. _I focus back to the conversation.

"Why did you just shout?" Spruce asks.

"Sammy, was telling Aspen about how she aced the traps, snares, agility, fire starting, knot tying, and the plants station. Aspen was in a little shock," Rye says snickering. Spruce's mouth dropped exactly like mine.

"True, but I can't believe that. I mean I probably ace about half of that," I say.

"Well, I'm the gifted one in my family," she says. We all laugh.

"Anyways, the gamemakers are probably getting suspicious, so we should probably finish this conversation at lunch," suggests Spruce.

* * *

We meet up at lunch. Sammy tells me how she is the oldest of six. Her younger siblings are just only 2, 5, 7, 11, and 10. Sammy is only sixteen. Rye tells us how he is the only child and lives with his dad. We all just listen to each other's stories.

Spruce tells everyone how he lives with his parents, but they are never around. He has to work all the time. His older brother died a long time ago, in the same accident with my father. When the engine of the truck blew-up, his brother was instantly killed by being burnt to death.

I tell them certain things like how my father died and how I take care of my mother. I tell them about my aunt and cousins. I don't tell them how I hunt illegally, sell my game illegally, and how I can't kill anyone of them now. I didn't realize I was holding onto my necklace until Sammy pointed it out.

* * *

After lunch I went to the stations of survival to learn something. I stayed clear of the tree climbing and weaponary. Spruce stayed with me the whole time, because he knew I was upset. "We need all of them as our allies," I say looking up from the fire starting station.

"I know," he says, "Including the girl from 12. Her name's Saratoga and she is wicked with climbing trees, fire starting, and knives. I know it's little, but something about her says that we need her."

"Okay. We need to talk to Johanna and Marcus about this. If they refuse, we go straight to their mentors and discuss with them," I say.

"I absolutely agree," he says. I smile and get up and hug him. We sit there for about 30 seconds. It made me feel better, but made Spruce the new target. Cinn saw us and he throws a 100 pound ball twenty feet away from him. His face was flushed and looked right at me with hatred. I guess I'm Cinn's new target.

* * *

**Well, I think people knew that was coming. Anyways, my next chapter will focus on the rest of the day of training and the next. There will be drama, of course.**


	6. Day 1 & 2

Chapter 6- Saratoga

"He's uh ra-ra-really angry with you," Spruce stammered.

"I know and I'm his new target," I say. I tell Spruce about what happened after I left the spear throwing station.

"No wonder he hates you," Spruce laughed.

"He's just so arrogant and rude, and I wanted to show him up," I admit.

"We need to tell Johanna about this. She will know what to do," he said.

"Okay, but she is going to be mad to the moon and back with what we lay on her," I say.

"I know, but maybe we should separate for a while. I'm itching to get my hands on those tridents," he admits.

"I thought you were bad with them?" I ask.

"Well, I'm bad with spears, but not so bad with tridents," he says. I give him a confused look.

"Three points instead of one. Gosh, sometimes I don't understand you," he says and walks away. I rolled my eyes and went back to trying start a fire with some cotton and leaves. Supposedly, if you burn cotton it drives out the mosquitoes. As I was trying to start the fire, the District 12 girl tribute comes over.

"You know, you're supposed to put the leaves on top," she says.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because the leaves burn more quickly and then the cotton will catch on fire, but you have to have a lot of leaves," she says.

"Oh that makes sense. Thank you," I say. It must have taken her aback because she gave me this confused look.

"What?" I ask a little too harshly.

"It's just that you're nice, but when you talk to Cinn you're all rude and clever," she points out.

"I'm like to all the careers, but thanks," I say giving her a small smile, "I'm As-"

"I know who you are. I'm Saratoga," she says shaking my hand.

"Oh, how do you know my name," I ask.

"Well since everyone is betting that you, Spruce, and the rest of the careers, Rye, and Savannah are the ones who most likely will win. You would think that I would remember their names," she states.

"Oh, who's Savannah?" I ask.

"District 10 girl tribute," she says starting a fire only with tree bark and a weird rock that looks highly flammable.

"Oh," I say. While I finish up starting my fire after 15 minutes, Saratoga and I talk about the other careers. She is easy to talk to for such a 12 year-old. She tells me about the District 1 tributes. The girl's name is Gliss. She tells me how she is wicked with spear and can throw at a range of 50-feet. She tells me how she picks on all the other careers. She tells me how she can throw knives like I can go through the plant station with ease. The boy's name is Bruno. He's really good with traps, knot tying, agility, and axes. He can throw an axe about 10 feet in range, but if he throws slowly and with focus, he can throw it, at most, 25 feet.

"Well, I know he is arrogant, but he really shouldn't be. He's really good with one weapon," I admit.

"I know, but he and Cinn were talking up a storm about you," she admits.

"What did they say?" I ask really curious.

"Just the usual stuff. You have a nice butt, pretty eyes, beautiful hair, nice arms, and how you're so good looking, but how they can't wait to kill you. Bruno suggested strangling you. Cinn disagreed and said to cut you up into pieces," she giggled, "I highly doubt they could do that with you being so attractive to them."

I laughed, "They won't be able to get their hands on me if they wanted to."

Next thing I know the careers are at our station. "Scram, rat," Gliss said.

"Don't you ever talk to her that way," I say defending Saratoga. Saratoga gave me a weak smile and abandoned her fire. She ran off like a squirrel.

"What does she have, a guardian angel now?" asked the girl from four. Her green eyes glowed with amusement.

"She's not even close to that, Brenna," Bruno added.

"I'm glad I'm not an angel, because if I was I couldn't be able to kill you in the arena," I say. The careers were taken aback, but got even harsher. I noted that all the tributes were looking at us.

"Well, _sweet cheeks_, you can't kill us if you're already dead," Cinn said smoothly grabbing the end of my braid and twirling it in his hands. I swat his hands away, and he pulls his back and puts them up by his head like he's been caught and is innocent.

"Quit it with that nickname! A little bird told me that you and Bruno keep talking about my butt and how attractive I am," I say. Bruno and Cinn flushed with embarrassment. I grinned at them while the girl from 2 was rolling on the floor.

"That's why you are always talking about her. Whenever we come over, you change the topic to killing her," she laughed. The other careers gave her looks like shut-up. _You look psychotic_ and _it looks like you're on her side_. She got up and started glaring at me. I gave her a smile.

"Was it Saratoga, because when we get into the arena I will rip her into pieces?" Cinn asked.

I should've walked away, but it bothered me what he said. "No it was me, because I overheard you talking about me," I lied. I didn't know why I defended her, but it didn't seem right to let her take the blame.

"Whatever," said Brenna. Her and her district partner walked back to the trident throwing station. She growled at Spruce when he walked over to me.

"You know, we will kill her," Bruno said.

"Too bad you will be killing her and not me," I say triumphantly. I must have hit a nerve, because Bruno came right at me. I ducked even before he could punch me, but he grabbed me and threw me to the ground, and punched me in my left eye. I screamed at the top of my lungs trying to hold it in at the same time. My eye stung and was already swelling up. By the time Bruno's arm was ready to punch me again, I punched him hard in the gut and the peacekeepers were already on him and took him out of the training center. The rest of the careers were looking down on me with menacing smiles. Cinn looked smug. Good thing, it was the end of training for today, because Spruce grabbed me and took me to our floor.

"How is it that you always get into trouble?" he asks.

"It's a gene in my family," I reply, "Thanks for getting me."

"No problem, but the problem will be with Marcus and Johanna," he says. I groan at the sound of their names.

"Why can't we just have Haymitch who doesn't care?" I ask.

"Because we want somebody who can push us to become the victor," he says. I shut up until we rise to level 7. When we get there I tell an avox to get me ice.

"Where did you get that from?" Marcus asked.

"Bruno attacked me, because I provoked him," I admit. I hang my head low, so I don't look into his eyes. Johanna must have walked in, because someone grabbed my chin. She pulled it up to her face to inspect it.

"You'll get him back, but please tell me about the fight," she says with a bemused look. I tell her about when I was talking to Saratoga and the whole thing with the careers. Then I tell her about how I provoked them and Bruno attacked me. I tell her how they all looked at me as I walked out of the training with smiles on their face.

"Well, that's bad and good for you. News will get out about the attack, but your black eye is going to hurt," she tells me, "I find it funny that the guys were talking about you like that. Usually they talk about killing all the time. Also, the boy from 4 did not say one word."

"He's obviously in the career alliance, because they drag him around everywhere," I state.

"True, but I think they are using him," she says.

"Oh, that makes sense. I mean what would they do with a 12 year-old," I say.

"They could do a lot," she says.

"Oh," is all I say.

"Anyways, did you guys pay attention to the tributes?" she asked.

"Gliss, the girl from 1, is good with knives and spears and the boy Bruno, who attacked me, is good with traps, knot tying, agility, and axes" I tell her.

"Good," she says.

"Saratoga is good with fire starting, climbing trees, knives, and really good with observing people. Max, the boy from 12 isn't good with anything besides climbing. The kids from 4 are both good with tridents. The boy from 5 can throw 150 pounds, can climb very well, and good at archery," he says.

"The kids from 8 and 11 aren't really good with anything. Although, the kids from 11 are good with agility and the girl is wicked with any type of climbing," I say.

"Sammy, the girl from 9 is amazing at survival skills and Rye, the boy from 9, is wicked with the machete, hand-to-hand combat, and sword fighting and throwing," says Srpuce.

"The tributes from 3 are really smart and are good with traps, identifying plants, and fire starting," I say.

"That makes sense. Anything else?" she asks.

"The girl from 10 is amazing at pretty much everything, but her district partner can barely pick up a 10 pound weight," he says with sympathy to the boy. I feel guilty, he must be sick.

"Wow," she blurts. She gets up and was heading to her room when I looked at Spruce. He knew exactly what I was thinking.

"Marcus and Johanna, we want the kids from 9 and the girl from 12 as allies," I state confidently. They turn around with surprise.

"What?" blurts out Johanna. I can only see out of one eye, but I can see Johanna was giving me the look of doom.

"We want them and the boy from 5," Spruce adds.

"Whoa, whoa," Marcus says, "That isn't a good idea. They are going to turn around kill you when they can."

Me and Spruce look at each other. "I have talked to all of them and they wouldn't turn their backs on us. They said they couldn't do that to anyone," he admits.

"If you don't let us be allies with them, then we are going to talk to their mentors about the plan," I say. Marcus and Johanna look at each other. Probably from years of communicating they know what they think.

"Fine, I will talk to their mentors, but be warned. They might change in the arena and so will you," says Marcus. I knew some people were going to change, because Annie Cresta went completely mental last year when she went into the arena. She was from 4, and she won when she was mental.

"I agree with Marcus, but you better watch out and don't seem like you guys have an alliance with other tributes besides you two. We want the careers surprised. I will also tell their mentors the same thing," she says.

"Thanks," I say and rush up to give Johanna and Marcus hugs.

"Ya, you guys are welcome. Now don't hug me ever again," Johanna says. With that her and Marcus head to their rooms and start making the calls. I head to my room and get the ice from the Avox. I take a shower before dinner. When I come out for dinner, the tv is on and Caesar Flickerman is talking about the fight. He states the fight truthfully, including the part where I punched Bruno in the gut. He exaggerates it by saying how he threw-up later. While eating different sorts of courses, Johanna and Marcus tell us that all the tributes agreed about the alliance and the plan. They also give me a pill that will take down the swelling by the time we have the interviews. It worked because next day I woke up to seeing out of my left eye. It was a squint, but it still hurt. I took the pill again and got ice. Me and Spruce went down to the training center for the next day of training. I went to the plant station and went through it in 5 minutes. I passed and headed over to the strength, climbing, and agility stations. I went through the climbing and agility stations swiftly, but the strength was hard. I couldn't throw a 100-pound ball across the room, but I could lift, at most, 50 pounds. By the time it was lunch, Spruce and I were exhausted. I noticed that my allies were sitting at a table together. I remembered about the alliance and they were probably trying to get to know each other.

"You will like the guy from 5, his name is Rocky by the way, and he is like me," Spruce reassured me. I think he knew that I wasn't trustful with Rocky.

"Great I need another you around," I joke. He laughs with me.

"Hey, Karah and Brock are staring at you, again," he admits. I look over and see Karah, the girl from 2, lick her lips when she sees me looking. Brock is the boy from 4, but he is analyzing me.

"Ignore them," I say. The rest of the day went by slowly. I was working on puzzle, when I heard someone pass me. They slide their hand across my butt gently.

"You have a nice butt," says Bruno. I glare at him, but don't reply because I rather not get into another fight. Cinn looked at Bruno with jealously and they start arguing about me. I roll my eyes. I finish the puzzle, but get a 72 out of 100. I then had the most brilliant plan. The guys were still arguing, so I sneaked my way over and went behind Bruno.

"You know arguing over a girl is fighting and that's not aloud," I whisper into his ear. I grazed my lips over Bruno's cheek and walked away before they could react. Bruno was taken aback, but Cinn was so mad that he went over to the spear throwing station and started hitting the targets with ease. I knew I was probably the target and so was probably Bruno. I knew I cracked both of them. Now I was ready to take them head on in the arena.

* * *

**Okay, you guys are probably confused about Cinn's and Bruno's emotions to Aspen. The next chapter I will go more in depth with day two. I don't know if it will include the private training session or not. Also, the interviews will have lots of drama and the next two-three chapters will go more in depth with Bruno's, Cinn's, and Spruce's relationship with Aspen. Their will be lots of questions to answer in the next chapter, so it will be long and may take a day or two to compose. Enjoy :)**


	7. Day 2 & Private sessions

**I will be doing a mix between Aspen's, Cinn's, and Bruno's POV just to help the understanding of how they feel towards each other. You will understand Aspen's and Spruce's POV through Aspen's eyes. Just if you are wondering and get confused.**

Chapter 7- Rest of Day 2 & Private Sessions

**Cinn's POV**-

_I don't think Bruno or Aspen or anybody understands the feelings I feel for Aspen. I feel like I need to protect her, save her from these games. Maybe if she lived in my district she would be worth coming back to._

I threw the spear and hit the target, or should I say Bruno, in the head. _Good, I'll kill Bruno in the arena before he goes after Aspen. I just wish she would quit doing foolish things. Yesterday I had to act like I liked her being punched in the face. Now her eye looks distorted swollen and bruised. She should quit being so careless, but I know she has fight. She punched Bruno in the gut and did make him puke yesterday. I hope Spruce or someone else protects her if I'm not there. I wanted to win the games, but that was before I met her. Now I can't go home if she is dead. I will protect her no matter what. Hopefully no one knows, because I'm going to protect her every chance I get._

**Bruno's POV-**

_Aspen's done it again. She makes me so mad. I would kill her, but I have to wait for the arena because I rather not be hit by Gloss and Cashmere again. My face was red and angry from the slaps of my mentors. Gliss laughed the whole time especially when I threw-up when I got off the elevator. Oh, I can't wait to snap Gliss's neck in the games and then strangle Aspen and then cut her to pieces. I will even go after Cinn and Spruce. Cinn is getting on my nerves, too. He should know that I hate Aspen, but she is very attractive. I think there is more to Cinn than I know, and I think the other careers are oblivious to this. I'm going to find out more. If I can, I will kill Aspen with the first chance I get._

**Aspen's POV-**

After my little plan I walked over to Spruce. "Hey, you really should stop messing with them," Spruce says to me.

"Why?" I ask.

"Well, they already have it out for you, and during the bloodbath they are going to target you first and then go after everyone else," Spruce states.

"I know, but I'm trying to crack the careers and their alliance," I explain.

"Just watch out," Spruce says and walks over to intelligence station. After he leaves I walk over to the traps station again and learn a couple of different ways to kill a tribute. One is leaving your tribute hanging by their neck. Another is putting them into a net, but it won't work out well if the tribute has a weapon that can cut them free. I learn a trap that can electrocute a tribute. It's complicated, but has excellent results. I learn snares and traps to keep food away from humans and hungry animals.

"Thanks for defending me yesterday," Saratoga whispers as she walks to the running/sprinting station. I keep on working on my snare, because I don't want anybody to think that I have an alliance with anybody, besides Spruce. Rest of the day was spent with me throwing knives and spears/tridents, camouflaging(which I was horrible at), the running station, and going through strength/climbing exercises.

"Tomorrow, you guys will be have your private sessions," Johanna said.

"Yes, you guys need to show off your strengths to the gamemakers," Marcus said.

"Okay, should I throw axes or should shout some arrows?" I ask.

"You do arrows. Spruce you can do axes. We don't want the gamemakers to have to watch the tributes from 7 throw axes the whole time," Johanna explained.

"Okay. Should Spruce and I use other weapons, too?" I asked.

"Yes, but focus more on the weapons I told you to show off on," Johanna said.

"Start off with your weapon and shoot for awhile and then do other stuff. Aspen take the opportunity to climb, throw knives and throw spears. Spruce throw the knives, trident, and definitely show off your strength," Marcus informs.

"Definitely," I say.

"Okay," Spruce says. We then eat dinner. We start off with oysters and clams. Then we get served salads, and then we have our main course. We are served Panini's and all sorts of seafood. By the time we get to dessert, I'm already so stuffed. There was chocolate pudding with whipped cream, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream, and various chocolate cakes. I just had the pudding and strawberries and tried to eat cake, but I felt nauseated so I just kept sipping water.

I think by eating the capitol food made me gain weight, which is good since the fact is that I was somewhat malnourished before being reaped. I remember I could see my hip bones, spine, collar bone, and a couple of ribs. Now you can see only my collar bones and spine.

While eating dessert, the phone rings. Marcus gets up and gets it, because Johanna has her face in a cake. "No food is good as the capitol's," Johanna comments.

"There is so much, I could last a month off of this," I say.

"Same here," says Spruce. Then Marcus comes back from the phone looking like he just saw a ghost.

"What?" Johanna asks. Marcus comes and sits at the dining table and prepares himself for what he is about to say.

"Gloss and Cashmere warned us to stay away from Bruno or they will have Bruno or Gliss kill Aspen in the blood bath," Marcus says.

"What? I think that was meant for me, not us," I state.

"Well, just stay away from him. We were going to have a deal that they didn't kill our tributes in the bloodbath if ours didn't kill theirs," Marcus explains.

"I honestly don't care. They are going to kill me the first chance they get," I say.

"Exactly, but what I find interesting is that they find Aspen and me a threat," Spruce says. Then all of a sudden Johanna bursts out laughing.

"We got you guys so good," Johanna snorts. Johanna and Marcus are rolling on the floor laughing.

"What?" Spruce and I ask at the same time.

"We planned the whole thing. We got a recorder that had the sound of a telephone, and planned the whole thing. We just made up as we went," Johanna explained while bursting out laughing. Marcus and here won't stop laughing. Spruce looked angry and I was, too.

That joke wasn't funny at all. I got up and walked around. I wanted to cool off, because it really scared me that the fact that other mentors could imitate ours. Johanna is so scary and rude that everyone is afraid of her, but how could someone else make her scared. It really made me scared. I hope this doesn't happen in the games, because what if I need something badly and they never gave it to me because the other mentors forced them not to. I highly doubt that would happen, but I'm not so sure. I wish I could be back home in my District sitting on the couch making dinner for my mother after hunting. I wish I could be swimming in the creek out in the woods. I really wish I was home. The only way would be me winning the games and becoming a victor.

I was sitting on the couch. Spruce stomped his way to his room. I didn't realize I was biting at the inside of my mouth until I felt the blood. I followed Spruce to his room in case if he wanted to talk.

"Hey are you okay?" I ask.

"Yes," he snapped.

"Well, I came over to see if you wanted to talk," I snapped back.

"Just go," he says. I walk over and put my arms around him. He just lets his body go and cried and cried. I kept moving my hand over his hair and whispered "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay."

"NO! It's not okay! They picked you over me. They are going to send you the parachutes and things you need instead of me!" he snaps. I take a few steps back and stared at him. This is the guy I do not know. This is the Spruce I need to know.

"Know what!" I yell at him. The anger was swelling up in me. I was ready to punch him.

"What?" he asks and shouts at the same time.

"They might have chosen me, but I don't care because I'm trying to protect you! Why do you think I have tried to let you out of the light? I did it so you wouldn't get targeted! They will kill you every chance they could get like they will to me, but you wouldn't know how to scare them! I have, and you are the one making everyone crack up laughing!" I scream at him with every bit of anger coming out of me like I had bottled it up and it exploded.

"Well, maybe you should've asked me first! And know what I can handle myself!" he screams back. He walks into his bathroom and slams the door. It feels like an earthquake to me, but it isn't. The place barely even shook. I knew that he wouldn't understand. It hurt me, because I didn't think what might come out of this. All I knew was that I was so mad that I was ready to punch something. I just slammed his door shut and stomped to my room. I locked the door, so Johanna wouldn't come in and yell at me, but the door wouldn't lock.

"What was that?" Johanna screamed at me, "You guys are supposed to be a team, and that fight wasn't! You guys are just better off dead!"

She stormed out of the room. Her words stung and kept repeating in my head. Maybe a shower would help, but it didn't. I just fell asleep bawling my eyes out. In the middle of the night, Spruce came into my room. He sat on the edge of my bed.

"Hey I'm sorry. I was just trying to comprehend everything, and at the moment it seemed like they were picking you, but they said they made it up as they went," Spruce said sincerely. I got up and went over and hugged him.

"I'm sorry, too," I say. We just sit there hugging each other, until Spruce got up.

"I probably should go back to bed. Tomorrow is the private sessions," he says.

"Okay, good night," I say.

"Good night," he walks out of the room quietly. I feel better, but I'm still upset. I strip off my clothes and clumsily get into the shower. I wasn't paying attention and was attacked by cold and hot water. After I got the warm water going, I sat and let the water hit me in the back. It felt good and opened up my sinuses.

"Spruce Treblestone," said an automated voice.

"Good luck," I say. He gives me a smile.

"Good luck to you, too. Oh, and like I need it, too," Spruce said with a wink. I smiled and sat nervously as my name would be called. I knew what I had to do. I was going to shoot the arrows and throw the axes, but I was going to jump from tree to tree and throw knives.

Thirty minutes later my name was called. I walked in with my hands shaking. I wiped my hands on the sides of my thighs, but it didn't help with the sweat. I took a deep breath and walked in. The gamemakers weren't looking at me, but they were engrossed into the huge turkey they were having.

"Aspen Gaeming," I say loud with a small shake in my voice. They all turn their attention to me. I walk over to the axes and examine them. _Oh, how I was itching my hands to get on these and the bows._ I let my hands caress the dark, wood handle. The blade was nice and sharp. That would do a lot of damage. I set my left leg first and held the small axe in my right hand. I aim for the head. I use all my power and step forward. At the same time, I throw the axe and it hits the head target perfectly. I pick up a bigger axe and aim for the heart. It hits it perfectly like before. I throw for a while and head to the knives. I throw for a bit and then head to the archery stations. I hit all the targets after 30 times. Then I climb the trees and jump from one to one to one. I then jump down 5 feet and head to the axe station again. I set up the traps with dummies in the net. I leave a slit in each and throw the axes. I throw the one I am standing at and turn 180 degrees and hit the other dummy. I keep throwing my axes at each dummy and hit them all in the head or the heart. I turn to face the gamemakers, but they were engrossed in the turkey again. I saw some few nods from different people, but all of them were drunk and giggling about the turkey. I was so enraged that I didn't realize what I was doing when I did it.

I grabbed the biggest axe I could and aimed it at the turkey's neck. I threw it and cut the head off. All the gamemakers looked aghast. I just gave them a smile and said, "I thought tributes were more important than a turkey, but I guessed wrong."

I stormed out of the room and went up to the apartment. I ran to my room and curled myself into a ball and let myself cry. By the time Spruce came in, there was no more tears for me to cry.

"What happened?" he asked while sitting next to me.

"I threw the axe at the turkey's neck and they were all mad at me," I sobbed.

"It's okay, because I will get a better score than you," he joked. As sad as I was, he made me laugh.

"Hopefully, they don't take it out on my family or someone else," I say.

"They couldn't. You are already in the games," he said.

"I know, but I'm just worried something will happen to them," I say.

"Nothing will," he reassured me.

"I guess I worry because they are the only family I have left," I say.

"Same with me," he said. I get up and hug him. We sit there hugging until Johanna breaks the embrace.

"Okay, friends, I see you made up. Now what happened?" Johanna asked. She walked into my room followed by Marcus. I tell her about everything.

"They won't take it out on anybody. Don't worry," Marcus reassured me. Johanna wasn't so sure, but she hid it horribly.

"Let's have dinner and watch the rankings," she said.

The scores came on after dinner. Gliss got a 9. Bruno got a 10. Cinn got a 10. Karah got a 8. Brenna got an 7. Brock got a 5. The other scores were between 2-6 with the other tributes. Next was Spruce. "Spruce Trebelstone," said Caesar Flickerman, "with a 7."

"Whoo-hoo!" Johanna , Marcus, Basil, Welding, and I yelled. I hugged him while everyone else patted him on the back.

"Now, Aspen Gaeming, the girl with fight," said Casear Flickerman, "with a score of 10."


	8. Interviews

Chapter 8-Interviews

"Oh my god!" I screamed. We all celebrated. I was dancing wildly with Spruce while everyone else was jumping around congratulating us.

"Whooo-hooo," I yelled with Spruce. After awhile we watched the re-run of the training scores, because we missed it when we celebrated. We saw that Rocky got a 6, Rye got a 7, Sammy got a 5, and Saratoga got a 4. I really didn't care about the scores, but I was caring about how we were going to find each other in the arena.

Spruce noticed my agitation and asked, "What?"

"Nothing, really, but how are we going to find each other in the arena after the bloodbath?" I asked.

"Well we need to discuss that, so we should talk to Marcus and Johanna," he explained.

"Okay," I agreed.

"Johanna and Marcus, come over here. We have to talk to you guys about the alliance," Spruce called them.

"Yes?" asked Marcus.

"How are we going to group up after the bloodbath?" I asked.

"Well if you guys were to go into groups, who would you go with?" asked Johanna.

"I would go with anybody," Spruce clarified.

"I would go with anyone, but I want to definitely have Saratoga with me," I say.

"Okay, we will talk to their mentors, but for right now get some sleep and tomorrow we will start interview training," Johanna directed.

Spruce and I went to our rooms. I stripped off my clothes and got in a nightgown and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

* * *

I woke-up hungry, so I got dressed and went to the dining table. Everyone was there. I loaded my plate with Eggs Benedict, toast, bacon, hash browns, and sausage. I grabbed a cup of orange juice and milk and sat down. "I talked to the mentors last night, and Saratoga and Sammy will go with Aspen and Rocky and Rye will go with Spruce. If there is a big water source, then Spruce and his group will go near the outskirts and wander around it for a couple of days until Aspen's group finds Spruce's group. Aspen, you and your group will run as fast as you can into the forest or jungle or rainforest or whatever has trees that seclude you or a place where you guys can climb," Johanna explained.

"Okay got it," Spruce and I say. The rest of the morning was spent with me walking in heels while Johanna taught me ways to present myself and walk in the heels. I wasn't a loud to hike up my dress, but I was getting the hang of walking around in heels. I could definitely not run in heels.

The afternoon was spent with me finding how I should be at the interviews. We tried cocky, preppy, aggressive, humble, funny, cunning and sexy. Sexy was the one I was best at.

"You should be sexy, but compliment the capitol, too. It shouldn't be too hard," Marcus suggests.

"Okay," I say. We spent the rest of the afternoon going over me being sexy and complimenting the audience. That night we feasted on crab cakes drizzled in chardonnay sauce with sweet potatoes and applesauce and as appetizers, we had tomato stew with rolls of bread. For dessert, we had shortcake with strawberries, assortments of cookies, chocolate pudding and ice cream, and cheesecake. I was full and tired by the time I got to my room. I fell asleep instantly and woke-up to Johanna shaking me.

"Big day! Basil and your prep team are waiting for you," she said. I threw on a robe and had pancakes with strawberries, bacon, and sausages while I waited for my prep team. I was sipping coffee with sugar when my prep team showed up.

"Hi Basil, Penny, Venuce, and Reneet," I said.

"Hello. Let's get to it," Basil announced. My prep team had big smiles on their faces as they set-up they all said hello and then they started torturing me by waxing off all the unwanted hairs. After, that they put me in a bath that took out all the toxins in my skin. They then washed my hair and re-did my highlights and trimmed my hair. They then started my make-up. They did nude lipstick and lip-liner, clear lip gloss, tan eye shadow, black voluminous mascara, black eyeliner that was applied lightly, and pink blush that made my cheeks rosy. By the time they were done with my make-up it was lunch time. I had rabbit stew as an appetizer, Cuban chicken Panini, and double fudge brownies with raspberry tea.

After lunch they started on my hair. They curled my hair in loose curls. They parted my hair down the middle. My hair framed my oval face and made me have a mermaid look.

"Keep your hair behind your ears or by the side of your face. Never ever pull it back from your face or bring it in front," Venuce instructed.

"Okay," I responded. Penny then started on my nails. She made them almond shaped. She colored them black. She then designed gray and white stars on my nails. Then it was time for my dress. My whole prep team was so giddy.

"Close your eyes," Basil instructed with a giggle. I couldn't wait to see my dress. As they put it over me it wasn't light or heavy. They put my heels on. As I stood up, I felt like I was 6 feet high.

"Open," Basil said. I opened my eyes to find me even more beautiful than what I was like in the parade. I wore a one-shouldered black dress that had gray and white stars on it. From under my right boob running down to the left side of my waist was a see through fabric that was tinted black with glitter and showed my bellybutton. I looked fierce and sexy. My black heels weren't seen, but my dress was altered for me so that I didn't have to hike up my dress. I had shining star earrings and my angel wing necklace on. I forgot the necklace was my token.

"I look so beautiful," I exclaim with excitement.

"Obviously," said Penny. Then we went into the dining room.

"Beautiful," said Johanna.

"Amazing," Marcus said.

"Perfect," Spruce said. Johanna was in a green strapless dress that was altered not for her to hike up her dress. She had pearls around her neck and as earrings. Her hair was straight and flowed down her back. Marcus was in a black suit with a gray shirt. He looked handsome. Spruce was even more handsome. He matched me perfectly. He was wearing a black suit that had stars on it. They shined exactly like a star would. Some were blue, yellow, white, and red. I knew the blue was the hottest, I read that in school sometime.

"Dashing," I said commenting Spruce.

"Wonderful," Spruce said.

"Handsome," I said.

"Hot," Spruce said.

"Dude you went a little too far," I say. We both laughed and went on the elevators to go to the stage.

* * *

We were waiting for our turn when Rocky went. His edge was funny. The careers were all different. Brenna was smart. Karah was aggressive. Gloss was sexy. Brock was quiet. Cinn was funny. Bruno was menacing. Then it was my turn.

"Now here is Aspen Gaeming! The girl who can take a fight!" shouted Caesar Flickerman. The crowd roared louder for me than for any of the other tributes. I reminded myself, _Be sexy._

I walked onto the stage and floated over to Caesar. His color for the year is Amaranth pink. His hair was the color and sleeked back into a ponytail as always. His suit was floral print with green stems and white and pink petals. It was weird, but not as bad when his color was crimson a couple of years back.

"I see you are shining like a star tonight," Caesar said. I gave him and the audience my biggest and prettiest smile. They were all shouting my name.

"Thanks, I like the way my dress shines like different stars when I move," I say. I twirl and the audiences gasps _ooh's _and _ah's_, because, like Spruce's suit, the stars on my dress shines and changes color in the light. After twirling I take a seat in the plush, red chair. I cross my ankles like Johanna showed me.

"Well, we all know you are a star since the parade, but I we all want to know about your life in your district," Caesar says.

"There isn't much. My father died a year ago, and I live with my mother," I say. I feel sad that I haven't thought of my father or my mother or my family for all that matters.

"Well, that isn't good," Caesar says solemnly.

"I know, but I will try to win for my family," I say with a weak smile. I know I'm not being sexy, but they are learning about me and know who I'm going to win the games for.

"And try you shall, but do you have a guy back home?" Caesar asked.

"Not really," I say, but then I remember all the stares from guys in school and class checking me out, "but there have been a couple of guys I have crushed on, but I think more are crushing on me then I am on them."

I knew that was sexy. "Well, it seems like you are going to be busy when you when the games and get back," Caesar joked.

"Oh yes I will," I say and give the audience a smile. They all laugh and I realize what Caesar meant and threw my head back laughing. I knew I was gorgeous when I did this.

"Don't get too busy, because we will need you for the Victory Tour," he joked again. Caesar wasn't allowed to choose favorites or pick who was going to win, but he still made all the tributes look good. He was doing a really good job with me.

"So your district is lumber and they have lots of trees. Are you a skilled climber?" he asks trying to show off more of my skills.

"Yes, there are a lot of trees and I know the right spots to step on a branch that is weak or strong. I know when I'm high enough or when I am dangerously high that I might fall from the tree," I explain.

"Good, because death by tree falling wouldn't be so good," Caesar joked.

"I will make sure that won't happen," I say. The crowd was dying by the time the buzzer rang.

"Now here is Aspen Gaeming!" Caesar shouts. He takes my right hand and holds it and brings it above our heads. The crowd roars and throws flowers at me. I float off stage and walk over to the waiting room. We have to wait for all the interviews to end before we go back to our apartments. As I sat down, I watch Spruce. First thing started off with Spruce's skills. Then they get funny. Spruce is talking about how great the food is and the joke that me and Spruce had on the chariot.

"Karah was staring at us and looked like she wanted to eat Aspen, so I said to Aspen that she looks like she wants to eat you. Aspen then told me that maybe she didn't like the food here," Spruce joked. The whole crowd started dying with laughter. Caesar was hooting.

"I'm glad you like the food, but it's sad that Karah doesn't like it," he jokes. Everyone starts dying. I look over and see all the careers laughing at her. I don't feel any sympathy for Karah. She is a career and will try to kill me any chance she gets. She glares at me and Spruce, when he gets off the stage. Karah kept glaring at me and Spruce by the time the interviews end. When it was Rye's time, he was humble. Sammy was kind of nervous, but Caesar still made her look good. Saratoga was just herself. Caesar made her look funny and nice. I knew that since her age and district made her look weak, but he was really nice with her. I thought Saratoga was fantastic, but all the other tributes looked disgusted. They were probably jealous of some sort.

"You guys were fantastic!" Basil and Welding shouted at us with enthusiasm. I smiled and said, "Thanks."

After all of us celebrating we had dinner. For starters we started with shrimp cocktail. Then as a main course we had filet mignon drizzled with cranberry sauce. As sides, we had cooked asparagus and cauliflower. For dessert, we had whatever we wanted. I and Spruce pigged out in the ice cream, chocolate covered strawberries, assortments of cakes, and all different kinds of chocolate.

In the kitchen I shoved melted chocolate into Spruce's face. He shoved more back playfully. Soon we were in a full-out-chocolate-smearing-war.

"You know, I hope we don't lose each other in the arena," Spruce finally said. It was sitting on my mine too. I couldn't lose anyone, but I will have to.

"I know. I have been worrying about that, too. We will find each other if we stick to the plan, but I have another plan in mind," I say. He gave me a quizzical look.

"Well, tell me more," he insisted.

"My plan is that we stick to where we are going, but me and Sammy and Saratoga are going to wait in the outskirts of the cornucopia where we will be hidden, but able to see it so we can get weapons and supplies after the careers leave and try to hunt someone," I explain.

"But what if the careers leave but stay in the outskirts waiting for a tribute to come by, so they can kill them," He argues.

"I know, but I, Saratoga and Sammy will check the perimeter to make sure that they aren't anywhere close. One will keep a look out and get weapons at the same time," I explain, "And you will stay in the outskirts for most of the day and then you get weapons so the careers won't come and find you."

"What do you mean that they will find me?" he asked.

"They will obviously go to the main water source and get water and then start hunting. They most likely will find you around there," I explain.

"Oh," he responded, "I like this plan." He gave me a devilish grin.

"Remember it's a secret, and tonight try to drink as much water as you can," I command and go to my room.

"Okay good night," he said giving me a hug. We stand in the embrace for a while. I start crying and so does he.

"Don't let the arena break you," I say with a crack in my voice. I don't want him to turn into a monster in the arena and become what the capitol wants him to be.

"Don't let it break you either," he said soothingly. I pet his hair while he pets mine. We stand there for awhile. I love him. Not as lovey dovey, but as a friend that I don't want to lose. I sit there and bawl. He starts bawling, too. I can't lose him.

"We will be fine," he said breaking the embrace. He wipes the tears from his eyes.

"Of course," I reassure him. I wipe the tears from my eyes, but they keep coming.

"Good night," he says.

"Good night and see you later," I say trying to tell him that we will see each other again in the arena.

"See ya," he responds. I walk to my room and get ready for bed. I strip the sweat, make-up, and hairspray in the shower. I sit there and let my tears out. By the time I'm in bed, I can't produce tears anymore. I just want to go home and not worry about losing people. I want to be wrapped up in a wool blanket and have my mom and me sitting by the fire. I want to be swimming with Tara and Ash in the rain-made lake. I want to be baking with my aunt. I want my uncle and father back. Most of all, I don't want The Hunger Games to ever exist anymore.

That will never happen, but I can only hope.


	9. Bloodbath

**I know this chapter is long over due, but I have been sick for the past couple of days and have been at the beach and haven't had time to write. Anyways I'm sorry. I'm very excited to finally be writing about Aspen being in the arena. Also this chapter is very long and gory. So have patience, but I think it's good and you most likely will, too.**

* * *

Chapter 9-Bloodbath

I woke-up and got into the uniform that was laid next to my bed. It was a unitard that was completely black. I got sneakers to go with it. _Probably getting new shoes in the launch room and the rest of our outfits_. Johanna ushered me to the capitol's hovercraft. All the other tributes were there. I had to sit between Gloss and Cinn. It was not going to be a nice flight.

A capitol attendant then started putting trackers into our arms.

"Which arm?" asked the attendant.

"Left," I replied. My right arm was my dominant and if it was going to hurt, I rather have my good arm working. I slightly winced when it when in, but it slightly throbbed at my elbow.

"That isn't going to hurt as bad as when I kill you," Gliss whispered into my ear.

"You can't kill me if you are already dead," I reply with a wink. I give her my cockiest smile. Cinn tries to hold in laughter while Gloss glares at me.

In the launch room, Basil sits at the table that is prepared with food. I get a glass of water and start sipping. I remember that water might not be available on the first day and Atala told us that some tributes could dehydration from the first day of training. I keep taking sips while I eat some toast slowly.

The outfit is a unitard that covers most of my body. I put it on over my black unitard. Long sleeves, boat neck, and the bottoms go all the way to my ankles. It has green camouflage all over. I have a belt and boots. They were lightweight and looked like they would make you water-dynamic. The suit was made for you to cut through water fast, but keeps body heat in. I expect an ocean, but it's going to be cold. The belt wrapped around my waist and didn't fall when you jumped or ran.

"Aspen, this outfit is made for you to hide very well, swim fast, and hold in heat. So expect lots of water, maybe an ocean, and a huge forest or jungle. Also expect cold nights," she told me.

"Thanks," I reply. I sip the water and bite a bit of toast. I didn't want to die of starvation or dehydration. I was already nervous. I keep wiping my sweaty palms against my legs.

"Aspen do you and Spruce have a plan?" she asked while she braided my hair around my head. It was like a braided crown that wrapped around my head two and a half times.

"We always have a plan," I reply with a smile. Basil laughs.

"I just want you to know that I'm betting that you will win. I don't care about the other advantages of all the careers, but you girl have more tricks up your sleeves than the capitol. You are much smaller than most of your tributes. Just use your advantages over the other tributes and you are going to win. Also me and a bunch of my friends have faith in you," she said hugging me. We hugged until the automated voice from the launch pad said _two minutes_.

"Also here is your necklace. It passed as your token. The girl from 10 had a pin shaped of a horse that if you were to prick someone with it, they would die. She reclaimed that she never knew that," she said. The automated voice said _one minute._

"Okay I better go," I said. I gulped down the rest of my water and bit one more piece of toast. I stood on the platform when the voice said _30 seconds_.

"Good luck," she said but sounded muffled because the glass cylinder locked me in.

I looked at her and mouthed _I don't need it, but thank you. See you soon with the Victor's crown._ I knew I was being cocky, but it boosted my confidence. I just hope I last more than one day in the stupid arena. The launch pad was taking me up to the arena. At first the sight of sunlight it blinded me, but then my eyes started to focus. All around were Spruce, Pine, Cedar, Dogwood, Maple, and Oak trees, good for climbing. Me and the 23 other tributes were in a giant clearing. To the left of me was a giant lake. Spruce, Rye and Rocky will be there after the bloodbath. A voice was now counting down the minute we had until everything was going to break loose. The cornucopia housed all sorts of weapons and supplies. A little to my left was a net big enough to fit a tribute or animal and a backpack five feet away. It looked like the closest supplies were less valuable and the ones in or near the cornucopia were the ones of most value. I needed to grab those and run. Maybe Sammy and Saratoga will be able to grab something close to them, too. I looked around at my fellow tributes. Sammy was as far away as could be and was next to Karah. Saratoga was next to the girl from 8 and the boy from 11. Spruce was two people away from me on my left and Rocky was next to him. Rye was three people away from Saratoga, but next to Bruno. I couldn't think of what could happen to them if they didn't get out of there. The voice was now near 20 seconds, so I prepared myself to get the backpack and the net. But I remembered what Basil said, _you have more tricks up your sleeves than the Capitol_. It stuck in my head for the rest of the countdown. Now the voice was at 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

I ran as fast as I could to get the net and backpack. I grabbed the net, but the boy from 10 was trying to get at it. I kicked him hard in one of the legs and the stomach. He doubled over in pain and spit blood at me. He then hit his head hard while I wiped the blood and saliva from my eyes. I felt bad, but I needed the supply. I grabbed the backpack and turn and ran, but I saw Gliss staring at me. She had a throwing knife ready for me. I knew I was in danger and shielded my back and head with my backpack and net. I ran as fast as I could, but I heard the whistle of the throwing knife coming at me. It hit my backpack, but another one came and got me in the calf. At first I fell, but then I rolled and got back up on my feet. Another knife came, but missed me. I then limped as fast as I could into the seclusion of the trees.

My right calf was burning and it took me every ounce of strength to climb up the oak tree. As I got up, I could see the whole clearing. I saw Saratoga coming through the trees near the area that I went through. She had a small water skin with her.

"Saratoga, it's me Aspen," I whispered as loudly as I could. She jumped at first and then started climbing the tree. I was fork in the tree, but she is much smaller than me that she could sit on a branch without it breaking. Out in front of me she pointed at my wounded calf and said, "Um, I don't think you are supposed to have a knife in your calf."

I laughed quietly afraid of a tribute finding us. There might not be any by, but the odds are not in our favor with us being in The Hunger Games, so I'm expecting anything and it looks like Saratoga is too. "I don't think so either."

She giggled quietly. I pulled out the knife. I lifted my pant leg to get a better look. It wasn't to the bone, but the wound was a slit that went two inches deep. No muscles were torn, but my skin was damaged badly. We had no water so I used my net and wrapped my calf up. I could only do as best as I could. By the time the bloodbath would be over, my wound would be patched up. I just kept hoping my plan and Spruce's plan would work.

"Aspen," Saratoga said with shock. She was shaking my arm and shoulders.

"Sammy is dead," she said.

"What?" I asked.

"Savannah just killed her with a katana," she explained. I look over and see Sammy sliced in half on the ground. She almost made it. Then I saw that Savannah had two daggers or knives in her body. One was protruded into her stomach while the other was in her thigh. I saw that Sammy had a belt of daggers around her waist along with a slingshot.

"She put up a fight," I told Saratoga. I hugged her and made her look away. I didn't care that my calf was screaming in pain, all I cared about was keeping Saratoga alive and taking revenge on Savannah. Savannah grabbed a backpack and took her katana and ran for her life in the direction the boy from 3 went. I watched our backs while Saratoga cried softly into my hair and shoulder.

As I was watching, Saratoga collected herself and watched with me. The bloodbath was over and it was just the careers scavenging for supplies. They all had backpacks and their preferred weapon before they left. Before they were leaving, Brock threw his trident at Brenna. It went right threw her. She dropped to her knees and the tridents and spears fell out of her hands. Her belt full of knives fell off her waist and into the high grass staining it red. Brock turned and ran and smirked at Bruno like _you can't tell me what to do, so see you later_. Bruno started running after him with his baton and throwing axes. He was raged and you could see the muscles working in his legs to sprint after Brock and kill him. The others ran after Bruno. They were trying to calm him down.

"I don't think he was mad at Brock for killing Brenna. He might actually be happy that she got killed earlier in the game, but I think he was mad that he left and that Brock went against him and broke their alliance," Saratoga told me while she analyzed the scene.

"Honestly, I don't care. It will just suck that the alliance broke earlier and we have to worry about careers split up instead of together where they would be easier to kill. Now we have to worry about two groups hunting us, but I have to say it's weird that he killed his district partner. Maybe he thought if she was killed early on maybe he wouldn't have to deal with her," I say trying to wipe the blood-spit from earlier. The pain in my leg was worsening, so I propped my leg up on a branch.

"We should check to see if anything in your backpack can help your leg," Saratoga said nodding to my backpack. I opened it up and found that I had a fifty-foot rope, night vision goggles, a sleeping bag, dried chicken and fruit, an empty water container and purifier, and matches. I also had the two knives from earlier that were thrown at me. Saratoga had a water skin, so we were good with the water carrying supplies, but no stuff to help my leg.

Two minutes after the careers left, I told Saratoga to check the perimeter by jumping the trees while I would go on the ground. I checked and Saratoga checked. We reported no signs of tributes especially the careers. We walked to the cornucopia, but we still were on guard in case if a tribute were to attack. We made sure to walk around all the dead bodies and not really look at them. I made sure that Rocky, Rye, and especially Spruce were not killed. They weren't.

I grabbed a first-aid kit, a jacket, socks, gloves, fire starters, and a mask that covered most of your face except for your mouth and eyes. Saratoga got a backpack that had a sleeping bag, gloves, a mask that was as same as mine, dried beef and crackers, night vision goggles, and binoculars. She grabbed socks, a jacket, another water bottle, water purifier, and a small first-aid kit. For weapons, Saratoga had a belt full of throwing knives, a pocket full of throwing stars, and a knife that could help cut through trees. I grabbed a sheath of arrows that were gold, a golden bow, and two large axes that can be thrown or used in combat, and three small throwing axes as weapons. Before we leave, or should I say sprint for our lives, we find compasses and digital watches. We each take one and take off.

We ran like heck was chasing us. We ran into the woods, or should I say Saratoga ran and I tried to keep up with her. Limp-running through the woods we find two rocks by Oak trees that seclude me and Saratoga from other tributes. It looked like a ditch. As we sit down, I realize we need fresh water. We ran for an hour with no sign of water except for the lake we saw. So much for our suits that are made for water.

"We need water," I state.

"Poop, we should have gone over to the lake," Saratoga said. She got up and walked over to the Oak tree. Her butt was caked in mud.

"I'm going to climb to see if there is any water source nearby," she explained.

"Your butt is caked with mud," I say, "Wait; mud means wet dirt, so there must be water around here somewhere."

"Oh that's right. Wait is that a pool of water over there?" she asked and pointed between an opening in the rocks. I position myself see that a pool of water is there.

"Yes, get us water please?" I ask. She takes her water skin, my water bottle, and hers and fills them with water. After done getting water Saratoga makes an attempt to take a sip.

"No!" I shout at her, "You need to purify it first!"

Then I slap my hand over my mouth. We pack up and run afraid someone will find us. I ran five minutes before I fell over. I crawl over to Maple and Pine trees that fell down. Saratoga purifies the water while I suck-up. My wound in my calf was starting to pus. We pull out the first-aid kit and wait until the water is purified.

"Why did you yell at me?" Saratoga asked.

"Drinking water that hasn't been purified can make you sick. You can get infections that cause bacteria to grow inside you, parasitic worms, and a disease called Hepatitis. Also, Atala told us to always purify water unless it came inside a water bottle from the cornucopia or a parachute," I explain.

"Oh," she says as she drops her head.

"It's okay," I say. The water is done purifying, so I clean out the angry wound that started to pus on my calf. I put some ointment that says it will help with cuts and stitch it up. As I'm stitching, I'm in agony. Saratoga eventually looks away. Then all of a sudden the cannons go off. _Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!_ I counted with my fingers and got 10. It's not good, but not bad. The audience should be somewhat satisfied. I wrap a hard cloth around my stitched and cleaned wound. It was like a gauze. Then I wrapped a sticky cloth around it to keep it in place. It said it was dressing. Obviously not the salad type. I pull down my pant leg and try to stand up. I wobble a bit, but I am able to walk. I grab a couple of sticks and make a crutch. It helps somewhat, but I need to walk off the pain and make myself not look weak.

I check the time and see its' only midmorning. "Hey, it's only midmorning and we need to keep heading that way," I say and point the direction away from the cornucopia, "We need to stay as far away as we can get from the cornucopia."

"Why?" she asks.

"Because the careers most likely will camp there tonight because to them it will feel safe," I explain.

"But what about Brock?" she asks.

"If he can disband from the career alliance like that right after the bloodbath that means he is fine and will be hunting tonight. We will have to watch out for him," I say.

"Okay. Well let's get to it," she says. We start walking away from the cornucopia. I can't run and we need to save all our energy in case of a surprise attack.

* * *

After walking for two hours, with a lot of breaks, we find a beach. Then I realize we are on an island. The shore is rocky and the water is cold, but in the distance were mountains. They were a giant gray and snowcapped. Near the bottom started a dense forest of the trees that were on this island. We probably should head in that direction, but how would Spruce and them find us. I feel completely lost and our plan sucks now, or should I say my plan. The blame is all on me and I can't even figure out what to do to resolve this.

I am utterly and completely lost.

"I don't know what to do," I admit to Saratoga.

"You know what to do. If Spruce, Rocky, and Rye can't find us, then the will search harder. They will find the bigger source of water and look at both beaches, and the small islands that could barely fit an elephant are not the place we will be. They are smart enough to know to go to the mountains, because where else would we go?" Saratoga says cheering me up. I smile at her and hug her.

"I swear you are smarter and wiser than what you should be for a twelve year-old," I say while hugging her.

"You know it's so heart touching to see two tributes coming together," says Brock. Me and Saratoga turn around. I already have my axes in hand and Saratoga has two knives out of her belt. I knew all the cameras where broadcasting this moment all over Panem.

"Whoa, whoa. I'm not here to kill you guys," he says. He drops his weapons that clutter at the cliff.

"Then what do you want," I spit at him. Saratoga looks kind of relieved that he isn't going to kill us.

"You know, Aspen, or can I call you _Sweet Cheeks_, like Cinn and Bruno call you-?" he says before I cut him off.

"Definitely not," I say. I know he is pushing my buttons and he knows I'm so close to killing him by throwing my axe into his stomach. He laughs good heartedly.

"Okay, then Aspen, I want to join your alliance," he says.

"Why?" I say intrigued

"Because I wanted to ally with you since you were hiding your little secrets. Good plan actually," he admits while pointing at the weapons I'm holding in my hands and carrying on my back, "Also, this whole plan of hiding your alliance and standing up against all the careers. At first we thought you and Spruce were kicked out of the alliance between the boy from 5, Saratoga, and the tributes from 9. You are one interesting person."

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Saratoga asks.

"I mean the career alliance I broke," he replies.

"Oh," she says.

"I don't trust you," I say ready to fight.

"I understand, but I know the Careers plans, weaknesses, and strengths and you are my last hope," he says.

"What do you mean we are your last hopes?" I ask. With his reply he throws a hidden javelin at me. I didn't see it coming, but he was thirty feet away, so I had time to get out of the way. It nicked my left side, but another javelin hits Saratoga. It went straight threw her and blood spurted everywhere and hits me. I feel the warmth of Saratoga's blood on my right side as he lifted his next javelin, but I throw my axe at his stomach and the other at his head before he even throws it. I move before the javelin could lodge itself in me. My axes lodge themselves in his stomach and head. He takes out the axes I threw at him and drops them on the ground. His blood spurts all over the cliffs and he falls off the edge of the cliffs before I could take his weapons and backpack. As he falls over the cliff his eyes roll back into his head and blood starts gushing out of his mouth and head wound. His red blood from his stomach wound hit the side of the cliffs and the cliffs drip with his blood. I grab the weapons he dropped earlier and my axes, and rush over to Saratoga who is barely alive.

"I'm glad you killed," she says.

"I'm glad to, but not yet," I smile at her and as if on cue the cannon goes _Boom!_. I hold her and her blood stains my unitard.

"You have to win. I don't care about Spruce or Rye or Rocky. You need to win," she mutters before her eyes roll in the back of her head. The cannon then _Boom's!_

"No!" I scream. I grab her and start shaking her. I was supposed to protect her. I didn't do that and now I lost two people in my alliance in the first day because of me. I cry over her body when a giant wave from the ocean arcs over me and whooshes down on me and Saratoga. It washes the blood from her wound away.

I sit for two minutes cradling her before reality washes over me. Tears burst out of my eyes. It's like a waterfall. All the sadness and grieving washes over me, but rage washes over me next. I take Brock's weapons and throw them over the cliff with a giant yell. I take Saratoga's backpack and her belt of knives and strap it onto my waist. I take flowers nearby and put them in Saratoga's hands over her chest. The stick I used as a cane went over the cliff with my throwing of the scumbag's weapons. I had to leave so a hovercraft could take her body. And there was only one thing left to do, so I dive off the cliff and start heading toward the mountains.

* * *

As I get to shore I run as fast as I can into the trees. When I dove off the cliff, the water slapped my face and body with a cold blanket, so I try to run to warm me up. When I crash through the trees the pain from the wound in my side and leg attacks me at once. I fall over and crawl my way over to a pine tree that could cover me if I lay under it. I pull out the first aid kit in my bag and start cleaning my wound on my left side. I see it took off three inches of my skin and it gushes out blood. I clean it with water and stitch it up. I leave the tear in my unitard, because I have to make sure I have an eye on it. I cover up with my jacket, but it's too hot out. I stuff my jacket into my back pack and take a look at her knives. I take a few deadly looking ones and put them in her, or mine now, backpack. I hide the belt with the rest of the knives under a couple of rocks near giant boulders. After my pain subsides a bit I get up and start walking around to find a reliable water source. I notice the sky is darkening a bit and check my time. It says five o'clock. Then I feel the grumbling and ache of my stomach. I am starving.

I eat the crackers and dried beef. I should be saving them, but I didn't eat anything since this morning. I save a couple strips of beef, but no more crackers. I take three big swigs of water before getting up and finding a tree to sleep in for the night.

I walk for an hour before finding a tree that had a fork in it and could seclude me from unwanted eyes. I put out my sleeping bag and tied myself around the tree, so I didn't fall out in the middle of the night. I threw my two backpacks and my weapons in the sleeping bag with me. Tomorrow I would have to find Spruce and the guys and clean off my axes. Then I realize I killed a tribute today, make that two because I technically killed the boy from 10. I feel guilty for killing the boy from 10, but not for Brock. He was a messed up twelve year-old. He was probably messed up in the head and a bigger psycho than Karah. He killed his district partner and played me before her tried to kill me and killed Saratoga. Then I start crying.

Sammy died trying to come to my side like she was supposed to do. Saratoga died because of my ignorance of Brock setting up a trap. I cry myself to sleep, but I make one decision before drifting off to sleep.

I trust no career or any other tribute except for Spruce, Rocky, and Rye.

As I drift off, I awake to the sound of the anthem. The faces of the tributes show up in the middle of the sky. Brock's and Brenna's comes up first, then Sammy's, the boy from 10, and then Saratoga. No Rye, Rocky, Spruce, Savannah, or any other career. The other tributes that are shown are the girl from 3, the girl from 5, both from 6, the girl from 8, and the boy from 11, and Max(the boy from 12). After it's over I realize half of the tributes are gone in one day. I then drift off to sleep, but wake up to a bloody murder scream from a tribute that is being murdered ten feet in front of me. I know if they find me, I'm next.

* * *

**Shocking twists, I know. Hoped you enjoyed. :)**


	10. Mutts

Chapter 10-Day 2

**What recently happened:**

I cry myself to sleep, but I make one decision before drifting off to sleep. I trust no career or any other tribute except for Spruce, Rocky, and Rye. I wake up to a bloody murder scream from a tribute that is being murdered ten feet in front of me. I know if they find me, I'm next.

**Present:**

The piercing screams is coming from the girl from 11. I forget her name, but it doesn't matter anymore. I know it's harsh, but they found her and not me. I can't deal with the agonizing screams from her, but I can't do anything except for keeping my breaths even and keep still.

She was camped out. She had a fire going and everything. How could have I slept through that.

I know whoever is killing her has stopped, because she stops screaming. Then I hear the footsteps of four people coming my way. I hold my hand to my mouth to keep myself from crying out. I am so scared, because I know that I have a spot to be dead, like right now. They stop under my tree.

"Is she dead?" asks a familiar deep voice that makes my skin crawl. I then realize it's Bruno. I want to scream my head off and curl myself into a ball. I know I can't either because they would give me away.

"I don't know," says Cinn. The whole career pack is under my frigging tree.

"The cannon should've went off," says Gliss.

"Someone should go finish her off," Karah suggests. I'm probably guessing that she has her eyebrows raised, rubbing her hands together menacingly, and has a huge evil grin on her face.

"She will bleed out anyway because the way Cinn cut her with his sword," argues Gliss.

"Would you two shut up. Cinn go finish what you started and would you two quit bickering for like three minutes," orders Bruno.

"Okay," Cinn says and runs to finish the girl off.

"We don't argue all the time," Gliss spats at Bruno. I could tell it enraged him, because next thing I know Bruno has Gliss pinned to the tree.

"Don't ever backtalk me or I will slit your throat and wrists. I will make sure you die slowly and painfully. Got it?" Bruno orders to Gliss, "Same goes to you Karah. So do you both got it?"

"Yes," Karah says and puts her head down.

"Got it" Gliss breathes out while Bruno slowly moves his hands away from her neck. I slowly look down and see Bruno polishes his axes clean with his shirt. Gliss tries to massage her neck where Bruno strangled her. Karah just kicks dirt and dry leaves around with her boot. They wait for Cinn to come back.

_Boom!_ The cannon went off and made all the careers jump. I jump too and hope that they didn't hear me. Cinn then comes to meet them in a slow jog and his weapons and supplies clang and bump into each other as he jogs. Each clang and bump makes me even more scared. He just killed another tribute and I know that he could probably sniff me out. Probably like the girl he just killed.

She had no fire that she started. Unless they tracked her down. Maybe they were tracking the bigger threat and just came across this tribute. I rather not find out. "She was crawling on the ground. I don't know how she still had the strength, but I slashed her in half," Cinn explains while he catches his breath.

"Good," Bruno says a little enviously.

"I wish I knew how we came across her instead of cheeks," Gliss says. I realize she means me. I hold in my gasp and giggle that my nickname is now cheeks. Butt cheeks, haha. I'm so immature.

"I know. She obviously isn't far, because of her leg and waist injury. I want to thank whoever did that to her," Bruno says with a little frustration.

"I wish it was me," says Gliss.

"I wish I knew who killed Brock," says Cinn.

"I will thank them and then kill them," Karah says.

"Why?" asks Bruno. He obviously is not into the conversation anymore and wants to rest.

"Because whoever killed them is a threat," Karah explains.

"A big threat especially since he was a career and sneaky and clever and very, very good at killing," Cinn adds.

"Would you guys shut up! Whoever killed Brock, good job for them! I don't care about him! He's dead and killed Brenna! Savannah is still out there, as well as, Rye, Rocky, and Spruce. Aspen is still out there too, but she managed to get Saratoga and Sammy killed the first day. Aspen is our first priority, because she is probably all upset that her friends were killed and that makes her an easy target! Now let's get some rest. Karah you have first watch," he shouts.

"Okay," everyone agrees. I swear I can hear a bit of sarcasm in Cinn's voice. They run to the left of me, but I swear I see Cinn look up my tree and smiles at me before he leaves.

After ten minutes of sitting uncomfortably in the tree, I take in everything. They were tracking me, but came across eleven. They don't know where I am and they are hunting me. They don't know that I killed Brock and I had no control over losing Sammy. I decided to make my plan.

First I would track the careers down to see where they were. They most likely had water or a source they found. Second I would keep a watch on them, but stay away from them during night and day. Third find Spruce and the others as much as I can.

My plan had flaws, but it could be very helpful. I knew the careers wouldn't be back, but I probably should move trees. Cinn knew I was up there and he didn't do anything. I can't trust him that he won't tell the careers. Then I probably should move somewhere else because they might come back. Wait, I'm supposed to track them. So I'm going to.

I pack up my stuff and jump to a tree in the direction they went. Going on foot would be dangerous, because first they are still hunting. Second if they hear me, they could see me on the ground rather than hidden by leaves and branches.

With axes in hand I follow them by jumping from tree to tree. I put on my night vision googles, the face covering mask and gloves. After an hour of tracking the careers I find them across a giant lake. I see that Karah was taking first watch. I move trees back five-feet so she wouldn't see me, because if I was on the trees closest to the lake, she would see me. I start moving closer to their camp. As I am about fifty-feet away I stop. All four of them are still at the camp, but Cinn and Karah are still up. I move closer to hear what they are talking about.

Bruno is sleeping and his chest heaves up and down slowly and arithmetically. Gliss laid on her side facing the lake taking deep breaths that showed she was sleeping. Eventually Karah's and Cinn's conversation drifted up to my ears. Slowly I made sure my breathing was quiet and calm.

"I understand," Karah said.

"Well, we can't sit here and let him boss us around. He could be the biggest threat later on," Cinn explained.

"I know, but if we kill him, Gliss needs to be on this," Karah argued.

"No," Cinn said.

"Why?" Karah asked obviously mad.

"I don't want her dragging along with us," he argued.

"She's nice and fun to have around," Karah argued back.

"We will discuss this more later," Cinn said. He then drifted off to sleep. I then get up to go. I start to head far away from them in the direction I came.

Two hours later I hit the beach. I check my watch and see it's 3:28 in the morning. I make camp in an Oak tree on the outskirts of the beach. Before I fall to sleep I see a forest fire that was most likely five miles from me. I realize it was the fire from the girl from 11. I then drift off and wake to a startle when I see a face staring at me. More like three faces staring at me. I quickly bring out my two axes. I realize I have my mask and night goggles still on. I take them off quickly and stuff them into my bag. I realize it's seven a.m. As I focus more on the faces I see that they are wearing masks and have their weapons out.

The taller one had nun chucks and bolas in his hands. The short squat one had cleavers and a machete in his hands. The average height guy had tridents in his hands and is poised to throw at me if I made a move. All of them then dropped their weapons and took of their masks. I saw that it was Spruce, Rocky, and Rye. They were all giving me cold stares. I ran up to hug them, but was pushed away by Rye and Rocky.

"What the crap? Why are you guys doing this?" I asked with innocence in my voice. I still had my axes and was ready to attack. They picked up their weapons.

Rye was the first to talk. "It's more like you should be the one talking," he started, "What happened to Sammy and Saratoga?"

"They were killed!" I shouted at him actually at them. Who cares if someone hears. If they were to hear, then they might think it's the careers fighting again or some poor career getting killed.

"Obviously, they were killed! What happened to them?" Rocky spat at me. I launched my spit at him. My spit hit him in the face. He was so enraged. Spruce had to hold him back.

"Know what happened. Savannah cut Sammy in half and Brock threw a spear at Saratoga that went straight through her. And you know what I did. I killed Brock. My axe over here in my left arm landed in his head. The one in my right landed in his stomach. You get the picture. Then I gave her pink hibiscus flowers to hold in her hands. I threw all of Brocks weapons over the cliff that stained his and hers blood and a little of mine," I snap at them.

"What?" Spruce asked obviously confused.

"Saratoga was killed by Brock and Sammy was killed by Savannah during the bloodbath. Can I make myself any clearer?" I say to them with irritation in my voice.

"No you have made yourself clear, but we thought you killed them," Rye says with obvious frustration in his voice.

"Didn't you see Sammy at the cornucopia or see the blood on the side of the cliffs?"I ask still enraged with anger. I jump down from the tree and get in their faces. They take a step back, but poise their weapons at me.

"The bodies were taken away before we got back to the cornucopia," Rocky says with less anger and frustration in his voice than Rye.

"Oh, but why would you think I killed them? Saratoga and Sammy were like sisters to me! Why would I want to lose them?" I ask with tears welling up in m eyes. I stare at them and burst into tears. Snot runs out of my nose and mixes with the tears that fall fast from my eyes. The guys are speechless. Rocky just digs his boots into the dirt while Rye has his arms folded across his chest. Spruce is the only one to do something. He cradles me in a hug. He smooths my hair while I cry into his shoulder. I don't want to cry or show my weakness to the sponsors.

"It's okay. We know that you didn't kill them," he assures me. After a minute I regain my composure.

"Okay, I'm fine, but what is not fine is that you guys assumed that I killed them. I did not, so I hope that comes out clear," I state.

"We get that," Rye says and sits down at the bottom of a Dogwood tree. He stuffs his weapons back into his backpack while Spruce still cradles me. We then separate. He is like the brother that I never have or will have. I just put my head on his shoulder. They then tell me what happened from the bloodbath and now. They waited outside of the giant lake that we saw at the bloodbath. After they thought it was safe to go to the cornucopia they got supplies and went to the beach. They didn't go by the cliff, because they ended up on the other side of the island. They spent the rest of the day exploring the beach and a little bit of the forest. They heard me coming in at 3, but couldn't find me because I was secluded in the trees. They also told me that there was smoke in one part of the forest. It was like there was a fire that was left unattended and started a forest fire. I tell them about what happened from the bloodbath and into now and explained the forest fire. We start to discuss the whole career thing.

"They don't know you killed Brock, but they do know where you were," Rye says.

"Yes, but I tracked them. They are by this lake farther back. Aw, shoot. I could of killed Karah at that moment," I say.

"If you did, you could of gotten killed. They would of hunted you until they found you," Rocky stated reassuringly. I smile at him.

"They could be anywhere now or they are just waking up," Spruce says.

"You are prime on their target list so that wouldn't be good if they started hunting you," Rye says. He is still mad at me for getting Sammy killed. He was getting on my nerves with that.

"I know, but for right now I'm going to tend my wounds and your guys if you have any and we need to find a water source. Going to that lake might not be an option if the careers are still there," I say and start to get out the first-aid kit.

"They most likely will camp there, because they found a water source and the fact that they will feel comfortable with that area for awhile before they can't go there," Spruce states.

"Exactly," says Rye.

"So we find another water source. You guys have any wounds that need to be fixed up?" I ask.

"No," says Spruce.

"Nope," Rocky says checking his body.

"I do," Rye says. He points to a long cut on his leg.

"I can fix that," I say. He limps over. I clean his wound from all the pus. His leg starts getting agitated and moves his leg every time I touch the open wound.

"Stop moving," I giggle. He just _uhmps_. He tries his best his best to not move his leg. After cleaning his wound I start to stitch it.

"I know your mad at me and I am mad at you. I had no control over Sammy getting killed," I say.

"I know, but you could of done something," he says.

"Like what? I couldn't stop her getting cut in half. It just happened. I was wounded, stuck in a tree and was keeping me and Saratoga alive from being killed in the bloodbath," I say. I know now that the cameras will be broadcasting us, because another fight might break out.

"Still you could've killed Savannah," he argues back.

"I could not have killed her because I had no weapons and I couldn't walk," I argue back.

"Know what?" Rye asks.

"What?" I say clearly annoyed.

"That this isn't worth to fight over. We can't do anything now to make her come back to life, but we are all going to try to win the games for Sammy, Saratoga, our families, our friends and for each other," Rye says. I realize now that after these games that one of us could be the winners.

"I wish I could do something," I say under my breath.

"We should do something," he says.

"Yes, we should avenge her death by killing Savannah," says Rocky.

"I agree, but it should be Rye to do it," I state.

"Why me?" he asks.

"Because you were closer to her than any one of us," I say. I knew his secret. It was only between me, him, and Sammy. He was in love with Sammy.

"Okay," he says knowing what I know. After I clean and bandage his wound I tend to my own. Some pus in my leg, but it looked better. Not as red and angry as it was the other day.

After five hours of walking we finally find a small pond. We each take turns getting water. We then eat brunch. We eat the rest of my beef strips and fruit and chicken. I hunt near the camp we made while The guys hunt and look for fruit and vegetables. I start north of the pond. I take my bows and arrows out instead of using my axes, but I bring one along. I count how many arrows I have and see that I have 12. I take down two turkeys and set up three snares. I also found a strawberry bush on my way back. About twenty feet until I would reach the pond, I hear a loud _ca-caw-ca-caw_. I look and see a large turkey buzzard. It was so gross that I had to hold in my throw-up that was rising in my throat. I then realize that more came down and landed on branches. They were circling me in. I get an arrow ready. I start shooting. I relax my shoulders and square them up. I shoot three down before they start flying in. I shoot down two more before they start scratching my face. Its claw rips across my left cheek. It stings and I start to feel warmth coming down my cheek and onto my face. I shoot the one that clawed at my face. My arrow flies through the air and the sun glints off the golden arrow and hits the buzzard in the neck. Blood spurts out from the neck wound. Then another buzzard claws at my back. I can't help but scream. I shoot it and it lands with a thud on the ground while another lands next to it after being shot. Five more go down before. Three more are only flying. They fly back a bit trying to study the situation. After thirty seconds. They attack again. I shoot two down before the last buzzard takes my bow and drops it ten feet away. I panic and realize I have no weapon before I see my axe on the ground. I pick it up and get ready for the last buzzard. At first I don't see it on a branch. Then I throw my axe like I did when I had to shop down trees. The air whistled as it went through the air. The sun glinted off the metal. Then my axe found its home in the stomach of the buzzard. It fell off the branch and hit branches on its way down the tree.

I realize I am bleeding bad and that I killed all the vultures. I pick up my blood splattered bow, the arrows that were in the buzzards. I then retrieve my axe, and limp my way to the pond. My leg wound re-opened and I had claw marks all over my back and on my cheek.

I bandage my leg and face. I decided if I wash off that the rest of the claw marks would be clean and I would just have to bandage them. I take out my hair and take off my unitard and boots and jump-in. I make sure to clean my hair and wounds good. After washing thoroughly, I wash my unitard. I pat it dry on some rocks while I bandage my body and put on my underclothes. I put back on my boots and gloves and jacket. I fishtail my hair down my back because I have no skill of braiding my hair around my head.

I skin and cook my kills and wrap the strawberries up with my net while my clothes dry. I threw on my unitard and stitch up unitard at the claw parts and where Brock nicked me. I clean off my weapons when the boys come back. Rocky brought back tomatoes and corn and what looked like raspberries. Spruce brought some edible leaves and flowers along with a couple of rabbits. Rye had all types of grain and grass along with some edible berries. We had a feast while I told them what happened.

Spruce took first watch with his night vision goggles when we saw a parachute come down. Rye opened it up. It was filled with twenty rolls of five, seven, and nine bread rolls. There was also a note.

It said:

Keep up the good work! You guys are doing great. Your sponsors went up with Aspen killing the mutts. Good job! You guys work well together and make sure you guys stay prepared.

-Johanna, Marcus, Nuke(Rocky's mentor), and Pita(Rye's mentor)

I wonder what they meant by being prepared, but I was ready for everything. Especially after the mutt attack. I wonder what could happen?


	11. Out Alive

Chapter 11-

After receiving the rolls and note, I dosed off as Spruce took the first watch. The whole time the note was still on my mind.

I wake up to the anthem playing. No deaths today, but that doesn't mean no will come tomorrow. If we have another day of no killing, the audience will get bored and the gamemakers will come in. I think of the years where they had deadly mutts, like the vultures that attacked me early, set on tributes. Most of the mutts were killed, but usually the tribute gets killed. If the tribute has the skill, they can defend themselves and get out alive.

I remember the mutt attack in the 67th hunger games. The gamemakers made these bears that were ten feet tall and can run like cheetahs. They had body armor on their faces, but it took a couple of weapons to kill them. The gamemakers made a score of them attack a career that disbanded from the career group. He put on a long fight, but died after the eleventh bear that attacked him. It was kind of sad.

If they don't set mutts on us, they will set a natural disaster on us like the avalanche in the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the second quarter quell. That year the District twelve boy tribute won. He was smart and cunning, but he now wastes it on being a roaring drunk.

Or they will start throwing fireballs or stuff that can kill us in different parts of the arena. Again the gamemakers have whole control over you. They could lead you to safety but have you nearly killed, trap you and then kill you, or kill you right then and there. I mean it really isn't fair, but the whole idea of the Hunger Games isn't fair. We just have to play along with the rules that the capitol forces us to follow.

I just hope I get through another day alive. I hope that all four of us can last another day.

* * *

I wake up at three and take third watch. I wear my gloves, mask, and night goggles. I check my watch every five minutes. I sit against the base of a willow oak tree with an arrow poised in my hand and bow. It seems quiet and calm, but not like all heck will break loose in any second and it's not like eerily quiet either.

I hear the leaves blow in the wind with their signature rustle. I hear owls hoot and squirrels scurry up their trees. The crickets chirp loudly in the night. It could almost lull me to sleep if I didn't have the constant reminder of what's going on around me.

I mine as well enjoy the peace and quiet as it lasts. And that mine as well be five minutes or five seconds even. Spruce stirs, but then his breathing deepens. I check my watch and see that it is four. Rocky has an hour before he takes the last watch. I was antsy when Rye took second watch. We did get into a fight and he has every right to kill me. Everyone has the right to kill me because this is the Hunger Games, but that is what the capitol thinks. Only the careers really want to kill other people. The outlaw districts don't think it is fair, unless they grew up thinking the capitol was great or they are just messed up in the head.

I watch out for any signs of the careers and other tributes while I take watch. I think Spruce dosed off during his, but he could've just been resting his eyes. I was hoping because if we were ambushed without him knowing, all the blame would be on him if we were still alive.

I listen to the forest around us again and I'm reminded of home. The way the gentle wind sweeps the pine and pond smell into my nose reminds me of the lake in the park near the town square. It had jungle gyms that I would climb on with Tara. It had swings and a rock climbing wall. I then remember the trails that my father, my mother, and I would take. My father would point out the different types of trees while my mom pointed out the different types of animals and plants that were edible and not. I got most of my knowledge of the woods from there. It was like a blanket to me when the fence was powered and I couldn't go to the forest or when the worst thing happened. I would pick the edible plants, but I couldn't risk a weapon, because they could of caught me easily with my large axes.

I wasn't working by cutting down trees because I was too young, so if they found me carrying around two big axes and a belt full of dead animals; that wouldn't end very well. I sell to peacekeepers, the bakers, the shop owners, the mayor, and even the head peacekeeper but they couldn't turn a blind eye for me killing animals in the park. It violates so many rules, but hunting in the woods violates many rules and I could be shot on a daily basis. But inside the fence is completely different, because the capitol and peacekeepers have eyes everywhere.

By the time I'm done going down memory lane, it's Rocky's watch.

"Rocky your watch," I say shaking him gently.

"Okay," he mumbles. I give him my night vision goggles. He gets up and grabs a cleaver and his prized machete. I knew he was a hand-to-hand combat person, but at least he has some range by lodging a cleaver into someone's stomach or neck. I climb into my sleeping bag that is between Rye and Spruce. I snuggle up to Spruce for some warmth that I lost while taking watch. I listen to the forest again and fall asleep.

* * *

The sun is just up when I awake. I see the rolls are back out and I quickly grab a District 7's roll. Our roll has Spinach leaves baked into it and a brownish tint. I make a fire, because Rye woke-up before me and was having problems. I grab two sticks and a rope and made a fire starter I learned from the training center. I start rubbing the sticks back and forth until a fire pops up. We get twigs and broken tree branches to keep the fire at bay. We take some fried rabbit from last night and warm it back up. Spruce is still sleeping so I nudge him awake.

"Hey sleepy head, we have breakfast," I say.

"Okay, I'm still half asleep," he says. I then take a whiff of him. He stinks. He smells like a rotting animal that sat in the sun the whole day.

"Dude you guys need to wash," I say pinching my nose and waving my free hand over him.

"I'll take one after we eat," Rocky states.

"I'll take one if you don't look," Rye argues.

"And that's what you worry about today, but okay I won't look. I'll scan the area up in the trees," I state.

"Fine I will wash off, too," Spruce says. I walk over and eat a couple of berries and check Rye's leg wound. I just clean it and re-bandaged. I check mine and see no infection. I get up and pack my things and grab my axes and bow and sheath of arrows. I start climbing the tree that I took watch under.

"See ya later. I should be back in about ten to twenty minutes, so hurry up," I say. I jump from tree to tree. I see no signs of other tributes, but I see a lot of signs of animals including the squirrels I kill along the way. So far so good. Well, it isn't when I see the boy from 3 running for his life from something. He is heading towards camp, so I hurry back.

I'm glad that I see them clothed and packed up. The remains of the fire almost swept away with the wind. I hit the ground and start running towards them.

"We! Need! To! Go! Boy 3! Running! To Camp! Scared!" I shout at them. They get the memo and start running with me. We run before the boy from 3 catches up with us. Rye was limping and so was I so it slowed us down, but we were still faster than the boy from three. Then we hit a clearing but we are surrounded by a pack of mutts. They are foxes that look rabid. They are red furred and skin-and –bones looking. Their dark brown eyes show a vast vacuum into their souls. You would know they were mutts with just one look at them. Their legs were two feet tall, but they only stood under three feet and you knew they weren't coyotes by their red fur that looked like blood. It could be blood. I then noticed their metal clawed nails and their spiked teeth. Nothing could tell if there was poison running through its body to its teeth. The claws didn't look clean and nothing could tell if there were automatic diseases coming from the claws, well except for the gamemakers.

Rye, Rocky, Spruce and I make a formation with our backs to each other in the middle of the clearing. We then realize that the boy from three is crawling backwards to us.

"Hey get up and help," I whisper to the boy from three. At first he looks scared to death but then his face transforms to disgust.

"Why would I help you?" he asks with malice.

"Because if you don't want to die today, you should help or I will throw you at the mutts," I spat at him. That got him off his feet and joined us. I didn't trust him, but for right now I needed to trust him.

The mutts snarl at us. I have my axes poised while Spruce had his tridents ready. Rye had his bolas and nunchucks while Rocky had his machete and cleavers in his hand. The boy from three had three spiked sword in his hand that was covered in blood. One of the careers probably dropped it and he picked it up.

We move around as we watch the mutts. "On three we go crazy on them," I say. Everyone heads nodded while the boy from three rolled his eyes.

"One…two…three," I say. We then strike them. I whip my axes into the heads and chest and bodies of the mutts. I take out three when one takes out my feet and another jumps on top of me. It's face snarls at me with aggression. I hold it at bay by putting the handle of my axe in its jaw while the mutt digs its claws into my chest and legs. The saliva from the mutt slobbers down onto my face as I glare into its eyes. Not today will I die is what I keep saying to myself.

"Not today will I die!" I shout at it. The mutt looks taken aback, but as it does that I lodge my other axe into its side. It cries out as it hit the mutt. The life goes out of the mutt in an instant. I take both of my axes and ready myself. I cut off a leg of one mutt and anger it and then finish it off. I look around and see that everyone is busy. I see that the boy from three is running away with Rocky's backpack. I take out an arrow and set it into my bow and release it at the boy. It sails throw the air and pierces itself into the boy from three's head. The boy shrieks as I take out a mutt that tries to attack Rye from behind. The cannon then goes off. As I ready another arrow, a mutt takes the bow out of my hand and whips it to my left. I stagger around for my axes. I find them and pick them up, but only to be tackled by another mutt.

The mutt scratches my side. I then fell the sting of ripped flesh. I put my axe into the head of the mutt and brush it off. As I clumsily get up I see Rye being attacked and on the ground. I throw my one axe into the body of the mutt. We so far killed off seventeen of them so only three were left. Rocky takes out the one that is attacking him while Spruce kills the other one trying to attack Rocky. Rye comes to my side and asks, "Where is the last one?"

I reply with, "I think it got out alive."

* * *

**I know the ending was intense, but wait until the next chapter. Also I'm sorry I updated later. I have been busy. I need to update my other story, but I'm going to start another fanfiction about the I am Number Four Series, so check out my other story(ies). Hope you enjoyed.:)**


	12. List of Characters

List of Characters:

**Just in case you need to refer to them**

**Careers:**

Bruno- 1 boy

Gliss- 1 girl

Cinn- 2 boy

Karah- 2 girl

Brock- 4 boy

Brenna- 4 girl

**Non-Careers:**

Rocky- 5 boy

Spruce- 7 boy

Aspen-7 girl

Rye-9 boy

Sammy- 9 girl

Savannah- 10 girl

Max-12 boy

Saratoga-12 girl

**Mentors:**

Marcus-District 7

Johanna-District 7

Haymitch- District 12

Gloss-District 1

Cashmere-District 1


End file.
